Winter Winds
by SKDanielle16
Summary: Rose and Dimitri live completely separate lives and have never met before. When an assignment by order of the queen brings them together, what will come of it? Rose is already tied to someone else, or at least she thinks she is, but can she deny the strange attraction she has to Dimitri? And what about duty?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: RM owns VA.**

**A/N: **Hey! I promised I'd start another story, so here it is! I'm getting a little sad that most of the really good stories on here are human. So, to show some VA world appreciation, I decided to write this, which is NOT human. :)

I hope you guys like it! Just to set somethings straight, though it's really easy to follow along, Rose and Dimitri do not know each other, Mason is alive, and Queen Tatiana is dead. Anything else can easily be understood. If you have any questions, then please don't hesitate to ask in a review.

Also, I've never used a beta before, but I think I might for this story. So, if anyone is interested, please say so. I'm not fully sure I'm comfortable with the idea though, so don't get your hopes up. Thank you! I hope you guys like it.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Assignment**

"Rose, wake up. Your phone is ringing."

I cracked one eye open and cleared my throat before muttering something inaudible. When I saw Adrian leaning up on one elbow next to me, I rubbed my eyes and sat up. The sheet fell down to my waist and I saw Adrian visibly swallow before averting his eyes from my nude body. Sometimes it surprised me how shy he could become, especially after the night we had just shared.

A ringing on my bedside table brought me out of my thoughts and I remembered what Adrian had said. I reached for the phone, without checking who it was. It was eight in the morning on my day off, so if someone was calling me now, it had to be something important.

"Guardian Hathaway" I spoke in a serious tone, like I hadn't just been woken up.

Adrian's hand started rubbing circles into my stomach, as Lissa's voice came through the phone. All she said was, "I need you to come over." When Adrian's hand dipped a little lower on my body, I coughed and placed my hand over his, stopping it in its track. I gave him a look before speaking.

"How much time do I have?" I asked as Adrian pulled my hand to his lips. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't deny how nice it felt to have his lips on my skin.

She seemed to contemplate this for a moment before saying, "An hour tops." Good, I thought to myself. I knew I'd need some time to wash off last night's activity. I didn't want to know what I looked-or smelled-like right now.

"Okay, I'll take a quick shower and then I'll be right over." I spoke and pulled my hand away from Adrian. He watched me intently as I got out of the bed, slipping into his t-shirt. It was the first article of clothing I found on the floor. I leaned against the wall and watching as Adrian got up as well.

He bent down, giving me a great view, slipping into his pair of silk boxers, and then walked into the bathroom.

"Alright," she said and I was about to say goodbye when she added, "And Rose?"

I listened intently. "Yeah?"

"Tell Adrian I said, 'Hello'," she replied smugly before the line went dead. I huffed and threw the phone on the bed before joining Adrian in the bathroom.

He was brushing his teeth at the sink and smiled with his mouth full of toothpaste when I walked in. I wrapped my arms around his body and kissed his bare back. "Lissa says, 'Hi'" I muttered into his skin; he was still warm from being under the covers.

When he was done rinsing his mouth, he turned around and his hands rested on my waist. "What did she want?"

"I don't know. She just said to be over there soon." I told him, placing my hands on his chest. Memories of last night came to mind.

"It's your day off." He mentioned, before kissing me full on the lips.

"I know, and so does Lissa. She wouldn't call me if it wasn't something important. Plus she knows how pissed I'd be if she didn't call me when she needed me."

Adrian laughed and then let me go. "That is true."

I walked over to the shower and turned it on. After waiting a minute, I pulled the shirt over my head and stepped in, shutting the glass door behind me. I eyed Adrian as he watched me through the glass. I turned around to shield myself from his wandering eyes, only to watch his eyes drift down to my butt.

"Adrian!" I chastised, waiting for his eyes to meet mine. "Don't you have something better to do?" I asked, knowing fully well that he probably didn't.

His eyes traveled down my body once more as he contemplated an answer. I knew his next words would be something witty, and charming at the same time. He was always so perverted, but I didn't mind. He was himself, and that's how I wanted him to be with me.

"Nothing's better than watching you bathe, little dhampir." He said, before giving me a wink and leaving the room. I rolled my eyes, and then got back to my shower.

The two of us often spent the weekends like this-in my room, or his-cooped up until we parted ways. I usually had the weekends off, so it was the perfect time for us to be together. We weren't exactly dating, more just like friends with benefits, but sometimes I got the feeling there was something more between us. Neither of us mentioned wanting more than what we had, but every once in a while, Adrian would say something sweet or would look into my eyes meaningfully and I'd get the feeling that we were headed in a dangerous area.

I wasn't completely against the idea of the two of us getting serious, but there were outside factors we had to think about. First of all, our social ranks. He was a royal Moroi and I was a guardian. To the outside world, what we were doing right now was just having an affair. Like I said, we weren't serious, but I wouldn't describe our relationship as an affair. We were just having fun. We'd have to consider his family's opinion, priorities, and-the list seemed endless, I thought as I turned the shower off, and stepped out.

I sighed, before pushing these thoughts away. There was no point of getting stressed over these matters when they were never going to come to light, I told myself.

When I walked out of the bathroom in my towel, I found Adrian asleep on the bed. I laughed to myself and checked the time. I had a lot of time to get over to Lissa's, but I figured I'd just get over there quickly so whatever we needed to discuss could be done with.

I realized, when I saw Adrian asleep, that I really wanted to join him. But, being a guardian meant dealing with these issues.

I wasn't complaining one bit. I loved my job, and I loved guarding Lissa, but last night wore me out.

After quickly slipping into a t-shirt and some track pants, I walked out of my room and down the hall. Yes, just down the hall.

My room, or quarters, I should say, was very close to Lissa's. Being her head guardian, I always had to be on hand, and that meant living very close to her.

When I got to her door, two guards were stationed outside. I smiled at the both of them, recognizing them immediately. "Eddie, Mason." I cracked a smile and I could've sworn Mason's eyes glittered at me.

"Good morning, Rose," Mason said, before Eddie elbowed him. I had known these two since high school, and we were all very friendly.

"Guardian Hathaway, Queen Vasilisa is waiting for you inside," Eddie spoke formally, always taking his job seriously while he was on duty. He was very dedicated and a feeling of pride flushed through me. I had gotten the opportunity to watch these two grow from novices into the skilled guardians they were today. I held these two very close to me.

"That's my cue," I said, reaching for the door, but Mason already had it wedged open for me, politely gesturing for me to go on. I smiled at him, and said a quick thanks before walking down the hall to where I thought I'd find Lissa.

When I found her, she was standing with a few other people, her team of people she consulted before making any major decisions, I realized. It seemed the only person missing from that elite group was me, and now that I had arrived, our meeting was a go.

I hadn't realized this would be a group thing, but easily adjusted to the idea. I was dressed a little informal for this, but on such quick notice, I realized that it was okay. After all, Christian was sitting beside Lissa in a pair of superman boxers and a white t-shirt.

"So what's going on?" I asked, taking note of the fact that Lissa seemed stressed and was taking as much comfort from Christian as she could. He had his hands on her shoulders, massaging them gently, and muttering comforting words to her.

She was a strong queen, I thought confidently, but she was still Lissa. She could handle many situations with a look of confidence on her face, but when it came to one thing, she always faltered. I knew what this was about immediately, I realized. I hadn't needed to ask.

There had been a Strigoi attack, and someone had been killed.

I knew that much.

Hans, who handled the positioning of all guardians in the nation, answered my question. "There was a Strigoi attack. A Badica family was killed in New York. Six were found dead: three children, a guardian, and the parents. The wards had been broken." I tensed at the mention of New York. Royal Court was in Pennsylvania, and while the attack wasn't in the same state, it was very close.

I had one question. "How were the wards broken?"

"A stake." I raised my eyebrows at the statement. How had a stake been used to break through the wards? Strigoi couldn't touch stakes. Unless… Hans must've seen the question in my eyes, as said, "We suspect a human was used to wield the stake."

A human? That was crazy, I thought, but completely plausible. "This is a game changer. We're going to have to up our defenses. If humans are in league with Strigoi, we're at serious risk."

"Exactly," Lissa said, speaking up. "That's why I've called you all here." She looked each one of us in the eye.

Her eyes landed on Hans. "I've called in back-up." She elaborated, "A team of strategists, who will help you guys figure out a way to prevent an attack on court. I know this is a big task, so with a larger team at work, I hope we'll be able to get work done quicker, and easier."

"Who is being brought in?" I asked, curious and also wary at the idea of people I didn't fully know yet being trusted so easily at working closely with Lissa.

"Natasha Ozera, Janine Hathaway, Alberta Petrov and Ivan Zeklos." Three out of the four names I recognized. My mother, obviously, Natasha Ozera was Christian's aunt, and Alberta was the head guardian at St. Vladimir's, the school I had attended. I had no clue who Ivan Zeklos was though. "I know it might be hard at first for you all to get used to working with new people, but I know that you will carry through."

Lissa sighed heavily and got up swiftly, leaving the room to her private area. Christian, before trailing behind her, said, "You all are dismissed. We expect the others to be here in the next couple of days. Be ready."

With that, Hans and the others left.

I waited for them to leave, and then I journeyed to the room Lissa and Christian had gone off to. It was their bedroom.

Lissa was sitting in a chair with her hands covering her face, while Christian knelt beside her. He looked up at my entrance. "Rose is here, Liss." She nodded but kept her face covered.

I walked over to her and kneeled beside Christian. Rubbing her knee with my hand, I said, "Liss, you're doing a great job. Bringing in those other people was a good call. I would've done the same thing."

"Yeah, babe," Christian said, still in his boxers. I eyes them and then brought my attention back to Lissa, who had unshielded her face. She looked at Christian and to my surprise, started laughing.

"Christian, put some pants on."

I laughed along with her and then stood up, kissing her on the forehead before walking back over to the door. "Try not to stress out so much. Don't second guess yourself. You're queen for a reason."

Her face had notably softened "Leaving so soon?"

I gave her a smirk. "You know I have someone waiting for me."

She rose from her chair, looking as elegant as ever, thought she was just in jeans and a white blouse. She came to me and took my hands in hers. "How are things going with you two? You and Adrian, I mean. I've been meaning to ask you, but everything has been crazy lately. We hardly have any time to just talk." A look of nostalgia cross her eyes, and I knew she was thinking of our days at the academy.

I thought before speaking. "Things are fine-the same as always."

"And what does that mean? Rose, you know you can't have sex with someone over and over without it meaning something."

I sighed, not wanting to get into this conversation now. I already struggled having this talk with myself. How was I supposed to get through it was someone else? "I know, I like him. A lot, but I don't know if there's anything but sex to be done with us. I mean, we spend time together, if that's what you mean, but we're not exactly dating. At least, I don't think so."

"What does Adrian have to say about all of this?"

"You know Adrian. He's a party boy. He's taking full advantage of my offering. Not that I'm complaining." I muttered.

"You might want to reconsider your opinion of him," Lissa said, regarding me seriously. "He's changed. I'm pretty sure you're the only one he's even laid eyes on in the past few months."

I had no response to that.

"You should talk to him." Lissa suggested, before her attention was turned to Christian, who had just walked out of the closet. He had changed into a pair of jeans, but kept the shirt.

Christian came up behind her and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist. Even if Lissa wasn't the Queen, Christian would still regard her as one. He always had. As he buried his face into her neck, Lissa shivered. I smiled at the two of them and then started backing out the door.

Christian was useful for once, and distracted Lissa long enough for me to leave without finishing out talk.

"Thanks Christian, for occupying her for me!" I called, sneaking down the hall.

Lissa popped her head out the room, and yelled after me, "Don't forget what I said!"

"Yeah yeah," I muttered before opening the door to leave her quarters.

By the time I had left, Eddie and Mason's shifts were over and two other guardians were there. I recognized them, but didn't know them personally, so I didn't think to say anything.

When I reached my room, I unlocked the door, thinking Adrian would still be asleep. However, when I got inside the bed was empty. He must've gone back to his room. I thought back to my conversation with Lissa, and sighed.

I had no idea what my feelings were for Adrian, but I knew that seeing the bed empty was never as comforting as being in Adrian's arms. Maybe it was just the comfort of having someone else in bed with you, or the fact that I might've liked Adrian more than I wanted to admit, but I wished he was here right now.

Sighing once more, I kicked off my shoes and pulled down my pants to get back into bed. I had my eyes closed for a moment when I heard the sound of a toilet flushing. I sat up just in time to see Adrian coming out of the bathroom.

He was rubbing his eyes, and then smiled his goofy smile before almost running back into bed when he caught sight of me. I couldn't stop the smile that spread over my face.

I laid back down, and let Adrian pull me to him. We both could sleep in a few more hours, I thought, just as Adrian kissed my neck once.

* * *

When I woke up a couple hours later, Adrian's leg was thrown over mine, and I was still wrapped tightly in his arms. I almost laughed at how silly we must've looked.

Slowly, I rolled over till my face was aligned with his. I leant forward and pecked his lips lightly. I waited to see if he woke up. Nothing. So, I slipped my hand to his back, and ran it slowly up and down his muscles. He was a Moroi, but he was in shape, and I liked that.

He shivered at my touch, and I kissed him once more, but this time I held my lips to his and pushed a little harder. I laughed when he jerked a bit to the side at my forceful action, but soon became lost in the feeling of our mouths together. His tongue came out to play and licked my lips before coaxing its way inside my mouth.

Oh, Adrian was awake now.

I moaned lightly when he leaned up on an elbow and held himself over me. I could feel his whole body at once and I knew what I wanted.

After lifting my shirt over my head, I inched his boxers down until he kicked them off. My underwear came off soon after that.

After a few more heated kisses, and the wandering of heated hands, Adrian looked into my eyes and thrust himself inside me. I hissed at the sudden intrusion and moaned when he slipped out slowly, only to push forcefully back in. I closed my eyes at the pleasure I was feeling. And to think that I got this every weekend.

"Wow." I breathed out as Adrian kept going. My legs wrapped around his waist as I tried to get him all the way in me. Sighing loudly, I urged him forward and then wrapped my arms around his neck. He buried his head into my neck and tugged on the skin there. I was so close.

"Rose…" Adrian whispered harshly, as his movements became more sporadic. "Rose…" and then I became undone. I was still lost in my high when Adrian whispered something into my neck and then climaxed as well.

I brushed a strand of wet hair away from his eyes and then said, "What did you say?" His eyes widened and he seemed to be caught off guard.

Clearing his throat, he hesitated. He must not have thought I heard him.

Laughing tiredly, I rested a hand on his cheek. "What?"

His eyes wandered over my face and then he leaned down to kiss me gently. "You're beautiful. I said, 'you're beautiful'."

I raised my brows at his confession. He had never told me I was beautiful before. Sexy, yes, but not beautiful.

He gave a little smile and then said it again, "you're beautiful", before kissing me once more and then getting up.

I wanted to say something in response, but nothing came out. I was kind of shocked to say the least as he started getting dressed. "Are you leaving?" I asked, almost hurt.

Why would he say something like that and then just up and leave? I didn't want to admit it, but him calling me beautiful meant something. Very rarely did someone call me beautiful after something like sex. Not that I went around having sex. Adrian was the only one I'd been with for the good part of a year. This had to mean something.

Maybe Lissa was right. Maybe I should ask him about us.

I tried mustering up the courage to ask him, but as he kept putting clothes on, and looking at the door, his opinion of us became clear.

"Yeah," Adrian said, as he slipped into his shoes and then opened the door. He left the door ajar before coming over to me and kissing me once, leaving me breathless. "I'll see you next weekend?"

Ouch. I was stunned for a moment, but nodded soundlessly, not meeting his eyes. Looks like I didn't have to ask him to know. I was right, this was only a weekend thing, but why did that bother me so much? Hadn't I just told myself this morning that I was okay with it?

Yes, but I wasn't.

When the door shut, I rushed up with the sheet around my body and then cracked the door open a bit to watch him leave. I knew he must've heard the door, but he didn't turn around.

When he turned the corner, I shut the door wistfully and slumped back down on the bed.

I needed to make up my mind.

* * *

The next morning, I was up early, seeing as how I was on duty. After quickly getting dressed, I made my way out the door and down the hall to Lissa's. I nodded to the guards at the door and then slipped inside.

I heard talking once I entered the room and slowed down my step, keeping quiet. I realized it was Lissa. She was on the phone with someone. I kept moving, but slowly so I could hear what she was saying. She seemed frustrated with whoever was on the phone.

"You need to tell her." She said and then waited a couple moments before speaking again. I suspected the person on the line was responding to her. "What? You left after that?" Lissa sounded incredulous as she bit those words out disbelievingly.

I decided this a perfect time to walk in. I had no idea who she was talking to, but it seemed like trivial matters. I had no reason to be snooping.

When she caught sight of me, she hung up the phone quickly, not bothering to saying goodbye to the person on the line. Well, that was odd. She threw the phone behind her onto the couch and then stood up tall. It wasn't hard to see that she was hiding something from me, but I decided not to push. If it was something important, she'd let me know.

I cracked a smile at her, knowing that my arrival had made her nervous. Crossing my arms smugly, I laughed as I spoke my next words, "I'm here for my shift, my Queen."

She laughed nervously but didn't correct my formal title. Normally she would, but she still seemed on edge at my presence. Something about watching her squirm made me want to laugh again. I held back though. My shift was officially starting now, and I had to be alert.

"Well," Lissa started, mustering the courage to finally speak, "today's going to be a boring day. I'm staying in, so you'll have wall duty all day."

I nodded, taking my place at the wall. Lissa knew "wall" duty was my least favorite position when guarding her, but I was willing to do anything to keep her safe.

After an hour or so of watching Lissa talk to a couple people on the phone, Hans being one of them, she acknowledged me. "Your mom has just arrived. We expect Natasha and Ivan to arrive in two days. They're catching a plane together."

"Oh? Do they know each other?"

"Yeah, they do actually. Ivan and Natasha have been friends for years. She's the one who recommended him to me. Apparently he's been helping Tasha with pushing for self defense and the use of magic against Strigoi."

I was surprised by that, but then again, Tasha was very persuasive. She got along with almost everyone, so long as they supported her mission: to get Moroi involved in fighting alongside guardians. "I was wondering how you knew him. I'm usually with you whenever you go somewhere, and I didn't recall you meeting him."

"Well, there you go." With that she smiled and then hugged me before saying something about going to spend time with Christian.

She walked over to their room, and stopped just before entering. She seemed to remember something. "Oh, and before I forget, Rose. We'll have an extra person coming. Ivan's guardian."

"Anyone I know?"

She thought for a moment, before shaking her head no. "I don't think so. His name's Dimitri Belikov."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **Someone mentioned that Rose isn't as badass in this story as she usually is, but of course there's a reason for that. I figured that without Dimitri helping her at the academy, she hasn't come into her own yet. She doesn't appear to be as confident as she is in the series, because I feel like Dimitri brings that feature out in her. Just thought I'd offer up an explanation :) Hope you enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to read and review! I love reading reviews!

Any mistakes are my own. I don't have a beta. If anything doesn't make sense, let me know!

* * *

**Chapter Two: An Idea**

I was just leaving the cafe with my breakfast in hand when I was approached by my mother.

She grabbed me by the arm gently, without saying hello, and then muttered, "Queen Vasilisa sent me to get you." Raising an eyebrow at the cryptic message, I allowed her to pull me down the hall.

Slipping my arm out of her grasp, I asked as we kept walking, "What for? Was there another attack?"

I kept my voice down, eyeing the people walking past us in the hall. People knew of the Badica massacre, but they didn't know the details - like how gruesome the scene had been. I hadn't seen it personally, but I saw the photos... The sight of someone torn in two was something I'd never forget.

"No. Everyone has arrived, we're going to our first meeting."

From then on, we walked in silence, both analyzing our surroundings. My mother looked like she was ready for anyone to strike.

I knew the reason behind her tense stature; it was the idea that there might've been spies among us. If humans were working with Strigoi now, who was to say that Moroi weren't? Or dhampirs?

Everyone was a suspect, as far as I was concerned.

That was why I was worried about bringing in this Ivan Zeklos fellow and his guardian, Dimitri-something. Sure, Tasha had recommended them, and I trusted her, but I wanted to make my own opinion. Guess I'd be doing that in a few minutes.

Instead of leading me to Lissa's room, which was where I thought we'd be working, she led me to a room in one of Court's guardian buildings. I realized this was the smarter choice. We didn't need new people in Lissa's room, especially when we weren't sure we could trust them just yet.

I entered the room, noticing that my mother locked the door behind us. My eyes ran over the people in the room. First, to Lissa and Christian, who were here to listen and make sure everything ran smoothly on our first day. Then, to Hans, who was alone this time. Lissa's other consultants must not have gotten an invitation.

When my eyes met Christian's aunts, I gave a brief nod and smile to her, then to Alberta. My face grew hard as I took in the newcomers.

Ivan Zeklos was easy to spot. Those Zeklos eyes shined bright as he smiled with his vampire teeth at me. I didn't return the smile, but instead sized him up and then looked at the darker figure behind him. Where Ivan obviously took the spotlight, his guardian stayed in the shadows. _As he should be_, I noted. _They come first_.

Someone spoke before I got a good look at him, distracting me. Everyone's eyes and attention went to Lissa as she spoke.

"Good, now that everyone is here, I'd like to run through introductions and what our overall plans are. I'll need to go through some budgets and restrictions before I leave you all to it, and then I'll be gone. I've got some other things to deal with today," Lissa's eyes caught my own, and I wondered if that meant anything. She looked away a split second later and introduced herself, as if she needed to.

Around the room, each person introduced themselves, and told what their position was.

That was when I got a good look at Dimitri Belikov. He was a tall man, with distinct bone structure, and olive skin that surprised me. Judging by his accent, I guess he was Russian, but he was tanner than any Russian I'd ever seen. His hair was tied at the nape of his neck, and he was all business.

When he was finished, my mother spoke next, and Dimitri's eyes looked straight into mine. My mother cleared her throat, and nudged me. I realized it was my turn and was almost embarrassed for zoning out.

After introductions, I stayed focused to what Lissa was saying. She explained that we did have a budget, which I'm not sure could really be called a budget, because it was a _very_ generous amount, and that we couldn't use anything that could bring harm to the citizens of court - like bombs, for example.

"Alright, I'm out of here," Lissa said, standing up from her chair. "Thank you all for coming at my request. I hope we come up with some effective solutions." She gave a polite smile and started toward the door with Christian trailing behind her. When the two of them reached me, Lissa stopped like she wanted to talk to me. I had a feeling it had to do with that look she gave me earlier.

Her mouth opened once, but then she closed it, looking at the other people in the room. _Oh, so this was something we had to talk about in private_. I searched her mind for any clues about what she wanted to say, but I came up empty.

Lissa had become really good at blocking me out. So good, that it was like we didn't even have a bond anymore.

Finally, she said, "I'll text you later okay?" I nodded and watched as my mother unlocked the door for her so her and Christian could walk out. They were met with five guardians to walk her through court back to her room. Usually she would have less, like two or three, but we upped the number ever since the massacre. She needed to be safe.

I watched her retreating figure until my mother re-closed to door. The room grew silent for a tense moment, as everyone sized each other up. Hans was the first to speak, "Okay, no time for judgment. We're here for a job. Let's get to work."

Agreeing with him, I took a seat at the table and looked at the paperwork Lissa left behind. It had out budget on it, and basically an outline of what she had just told us.

We were in that room for two hours, coming up with ideas that led to someone else in the group shooting it down, because of some reason or another.

Suddenly, an idea hit me. "Is it possible for more than one ward to be set up?"

I felt everyone's eyes on me. Hans said, "What do you mean exactly?"

He sounded skeptical, though I hadn't explained yet. "Bear with me," I said giving him a look. "What I mean is, we've always had wards here, but just one surrounding all of court. If the Strigoi get through that, then were done... but what if there was a possibility that we could set up wards on each building?"

"Wards within the standard one?" My mother asked, her mind trying to process my suggestion.

"Yes, exactly. We could place them on each building, and maybe even in each room. They'll be expecting the outer wards, so they'll have a way prepared to break it, but why would they bring the humans with them into court?"

"They won't be expecting it. We'd catch them off guard," Dimitri said, finishing my thoughts for me. My eyes met his. We were on the same page.

"Exactly." Dimitri's lip tugged up a bit on one side. I found myself smiling back.

The room was silent for a moment.

I continued, "If we go based on what they normally do, they'll be running into the building with no worries of other wards. They'll be injured by the magic if they don't know it's there. They'll run straight into them."

This idea kept getting better and better.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Rosemarie," my mother said, shutting me up. I sent a glare in her direction, angry at how she belittled me in front of everyone.

I opened my mouth to say something back, which probably wasn't very mature or professional of me, but Tasha said something first.

"We can't shoot down the idea, though," she said, glancing for a moment at my mother, then at me. She gave me a kind smile. "We should at least try it to see if its possible. I'm surprised no one's though of this before."

Cutting in, Hans said, "Or maybe they have and they weren't successful."

"I'm up for conducting trial runs," Ivan mentioned, seemingly more interested in our conversation now that we were subtly shooting jabs at each other. "I'm an earth user, Tasha's fire. Anyone know any willing water or air users?"

I bit my lip, tapping my fingers against the table. I couldn't think of anyone of the top of my head except Jill, Lissa's half sister, but she was away at school.

A knock sounded on the door, and we all turned around. When I opened the door, I was surprised at the visitor.

Adrian smiled at me and then looked at the other people in the room. "Cousin - err - Queen Vasilisa sent me to tell you guys that you're done for the day. She said she hadn't given you all a scheduled time to stop, and since I was headed this way anyway to see Guardian Hathaway here, I told her I'd let you all know." He spoke my name with much innuendo.

I raised an eyebrow and then turned around to everyone. "Well, you heard him. We'll continue this later, I guess?"

A few grumbles of 'yes' sounded and the people in our elite group started filing out the door. Hans and Alberta were the first to leave, both heading off in different directions.

"Such a pleasure to see you again, Janine," Adrian said to my mother as she passed by him. She stopped in her tracks at him calling her by her first name and then nodded a quick hello to "Lord Ivashkov" before walking away swiftly.

I laughed and punched Adrian in the side. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

He smiled cheekily at me and then placed an arm around my shoulder. "Your mother wouldn't kill me," he said confidently.

"Don't sound so sure. She knows of our 'agreement'," I said, placing emphasis on the word agreement. I didn't dare call what we had a relationship. "I'm sure she already wants to hurt you for that. Don't give her another reason."

Adrian opened his mouth to say something, but we were stopped by Tasha, Ivan and Dimitri in the hallway. The three were gathered in a circle. They were friends, after all.

"Guardian Hathaway," Ivan said, looking me up and down. He wasn't being suggestive, but Adrian's arm around my shoulder gripped me a little tighter, so tight that it made me uncomfortable. PDA wasn't something I was exactly into, especially not in front of people I worked with, so I shrugged his arm off of me, but patted a hand to his back, letting him know it wasn't anything personal. _Adrian was being territorial. Wasn't that how someone in a relationship acted?_

"Lord Zeklos, Guardian Belikov, Lady Ozera," I greeted, nudging Adrian to do the same.

"We were just talking about your suggestion in there," Tasha said, her blue eyes glittering. "Best suggestion of the day," she added smiling at the group of us.

Tasha was always so polite. I couldn't help but like her. "Thank you, it's nice to know that some people are smart enough to know a good idea when they hear it." I joked, at the expense of Hans and my mother.

My eyes ran over the three of them, paying close attention to Dimitri. He seemed very quiet, the complete opposite of Tasha and Ivan. When I caught his eye, he shifted his gaze to Ivan.

"Well," I stammered out, not sure why I was suddenly nervous.

"We better go," Adrian cut in. I looked at him questionably. We didn't have anything planned. It was the middle of the week. He explained, "Lissa wanted to see you. She said something about a text message?"

"Oh," I said, before I could stop myself. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled my phone out. I had forgotten about checking it.

I started pressing some buttons, before looking up and saying goodbye to Tasha, Ivan and Dimitri.

As we walked away, I opened Lissa's message:

_I've got some news. Before you worry, it's nothing bad. I'll talk to you after the meeting. Come see me. :)_

* * *

**A/N: **Thoughts?


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **An update here, finally! Hope you like it. Oh, and just so you know, I'll be on vacation tomorrow through the weekend. No updates will be posted during this time, which is why I'm trying to update all my stories before I leave. Hope this satisfies you!

Please don't forget to review! I love reading them so much, you don't even know. :)

* * *

**Chapter Three: New Impressions**

"You're pregnant?" I asked, my mouth wide open in shock.

When Lissa had told me she had news, I anticipated something to do with the new plans to better the safety of court, or maybe more additions to our team of strategists. I had never in my mind even considered that she could be pregnant.

A smile broke over her face and she laughed at my flustered self. "Yes, Rose." She moved a strand of hair out of her eyes and looked at someone past Adrian and I. She gestured for Christian, who was waiting for Lissa to tell us the news, to join her. He placed an arm around her waist and stared at the two of us happily.

I looked at Adrian, hoping that I wasn't the only one who was blindsighted by this, but he had his normal cocky smirk. I nudged his side. "Why are you not shocked?" I asked, still a little bewildered.

It wasn't everyday that your best friend told you she was going to have a baby! It was so weird to me. I couldn't consume this piece of knowledge. This was Lissa, my best friend since we were little, and she was going to have a baby!

Adrian placed a hand on his ribs where I had elbowed him and feigned injury. His eyes were sparkling with humor. "Because I already knew."

"You told him before me?" I asked Lissa, a little angry if it was true.

"No, little dhampir," Adrian cut in, seeing Lissa's face, "I saw it in her aura. I was the first one who detected it." Again, the cocky smirk remained present.

"Oh..." I said trailing off.

When I looked back up, Lissa was looking at me expectantly. Her face looked a little defeated and discouraged by my lack of positive reaction. She dared to speak, "So, what do you think, Rose?" Her voice sounded shy. I knew she cared a lot about my opinion.

I suddenly realized that my shock was being misinterpreted as disapproval. It wasn't that at all, though.

"I think it's great," I said truthfully and stepped forward to pull her into my arms. "I'm sorry I'm not full of words. I'm just shocked!" I kissed her cheek and squeezed her a bit tighter. "You're going to be a great mother."

"I agree," Christian said, pulling Lissa out of my embrace possessively. I shot him a look and then opened my mouth to complain, but then Adrian came by and squeezed my hip.

He came up behind me and whispered in my ear, "I think that's our cue to leave." I followed his eyes, noting that Christian's hand was dipping a bit low on Lissa's waist. I averted my eyes quickly and grabbed Adrian's hand, nodding in agreement.

The guardian in the room cleared his throat uncomfortably and seemed to hope that Christian and Lissa would realize he was in the room and take their state into their private room - the bedroom.

"We'll talk to you two later," I called, giving a sympathetic look to the guardian before leaving with Adrian in tow as I drug him out of the room.

* * *

On Friday, two days later, I woke up beside Adrian.

In spur of Lissa's news, she had given me Thursday night off even though it was the middle of the week. Adrian was with me when Lissa had given me the call to set me loose for the rest of the night, so of course he took advantage of the opportunity right away.

We had been leaving a small cafe after eating a casual dinner together, acting friendly like always, when the buzzing came from my pocket. With Adrian's Moroi hearing, he had listened in on our conversation. I usually hated when he did that, but I hadn't minded last night. We almost ran to my bedroom after that.

One look at the clock told me that I had to get up...now, or else I'd be late for my strategist meeting.

Wednesday was when I had first brought up the idea of more than one ward, and we wanted to test that out, but we didn't have available water or air users. And, it wasn't like we could just go asking anyone. Our strategist meetings were meant to be kept private. We needed Moroi that we trusted, and those were hard to come by.

I carefully moved Adrian's arm from my bare waist and started slipping away from him. I sat up, rubbing my eyes so I could see more clearly.

Adrian sighed in sleep behind me. I turned to see him grab onto my pillow, pulling it to him as some sort of replacement for my body. I almost glared at the pillow. It brought up the thoughts that were always present when I had time to think about Adrian and I's "agreement", _that I was easily replaceable_.

I wasn't the type of person to hold onto these confusing feelings for long, which was why it wasn't hard to get into bed with him last night, but when they came, I'd mope for a bit. After all, I was a normal dhampir, I had feelings.

I let my eyes gaze at Adrian's sleeping form for one more moment and then I stood up and stretched.

Twenty minutes or so later, I was slipping into my shoes. Adrian was still asleep, which didn't surprise me. Part of me had hoped he'd wake up before I had to go, but that wasn't going to happen, and I didn't want to wake him up if he was tired.

"Okay..." I sighed to myself, pulling my hair into a ponytail. I flattened down my guardian uniform jacket and then checked my reflection in the mirror a couple times before deciding to put on a little lipstick. As I put some on, I stopped for a moment and asked myself why I wanted to look good for my strategist meeting. I hardly ever wore lipstick, and by hardly ever, I meant only for rare occasions when I wanted to get dressed up - like a party or a night out.

Before I could take it off, I walked out of the door, still questioning my actions. Even when I entered the meeting room, I wondered why I subconsiously wanted to look good. When I met the eyes of Dimitri Belikov, something in my mind flickered and I had a feeling that it might've had something to do with him.

His eyes dropped down to my mouth for one split second and I knew that he was the reason I put it on. A small feeling of satisfaction spread over me and I suddenly felt more beautiful than ever.

_What was up with that?_

Clearing my throat, I ran my tongue swiftly over my lips and then sat down in my chair, looking over everyone who was here. No one seemed to notice my inner dialogue, or my sudden discomfort with myself.

A moment passed and all weird thoughts were gone. This was business, and I had obviously misinterpreted something in that mind of mine, because I hardly knew Dimitri Belikov, and I was sort of with someone at the moment.

"Alright," Alberta started after Hans rushed inside. He spoke a quiet apology for his late arrival, saying something about it being a busy day in guardian handlings. "Did we want to look more into Rose's idea or keep thinking up new ones for now."

"For now, I think we should focus on more ideas. Outside of our meetings, I'll get to finding an air and water user," I said, meeting Alberta's eyes. She smiled briefly at me before writing down something in a little book we had all agreed on keeping so our ideas didn't get misplaced or pushed aside.

"Okay," she said, putting the book on the table we all sat around.

The rest of the meeting was uneventful. We still struggled with coming up with a solid idea. The only one we had right now was mine, and even then, we could still shut that down if it didn't turn out how I hoped. The hours passed slowly, and I found myself wishing that I had wall duty right now.

I laughed out loud at the thought, because I _hated_ wall duty and caught the eyes of the others in the room. I opened my mouth to explain myself when my mother stood up aprubtly. She shot a disapproving look at me for supposedly goofing off during our meeting.

"I think that's about all we're going to get done for today," she said, before leaving the room.

I didn't know what her problem was. She was just as frustrated and as lost as we were right now. That didn't give her any right to act so harshly. If anyone was being immature here, it was her. My laughing wasn't hurting anyone. It wouldn't hurt her to laugh every now and then.

I got up, eyeing the rest of the people here who were watching the door my mother just walked out of. I felt the need to apologize for my mother's actions. But it wasn't my place to.

"I think we're all just tired," Tasha offered, rubbing at her eyes before smiling at the rest of us. She was always positive, which helped lift my mood some.

"Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and go. There's no point of staying another hour. We're all out of ideas today." Twisting my torso, I groaned when I heard my bones popping and then sighed in relief. It hurt to sit in a chair for a couple hours.

I walked out the room, and pulled my hair from its ponytail, then took off my uniform jacket. It was nighttime now, and I wasn't on duty with Lissa tonight, so I figured I'd go have a drink by myself. It wasn't always the best idea to drink after a stressful night at work, but I was so wound up that I felt like it would calm me down.

Turning to walk out of the door, Tasha called out my name just before I could leave. Turning around, I met the eyes of the usual three, Tasha, Ivan, and Dimitri.

"Where are you heading?" she asked when we met eyes.

"I figured I'd get a drink. There's a bar a couple streets over, and I'm off the rest of the weekend, so why not?" I shrugged and smiled politely.

Tasha looked at her two friends and then said, "Want company?"

"Uh..." I hadn't exactly wanted company, but now that she mentioned it, I was open to the idea. It was always nicer to drink with other people, rather than just yourself. "Sure."

That was how we four ended up at _Lucy's,_ a bar with a small dance floor, that was located on the outskirts of court. It was Moroi owned, but mostly dhampirs came. Adrian and I had been here a couple times, because of the lack of Moroi here. Dhampirs were pretty loyal to its own race, so I trusted most of the people here not to talk about Adrian and I being together here.

We were two drinks in when Tasha suddenly stood up. I could tell she was a little buzzed and it was a funny sight to see her stumble over to Ivan, who was talking animatedly about something to Dimitri, who seemed extremely interested in whatever he was saying. They had been like this all night. Dimitri and Ivan, I mean. Tasha had only just barely started seeming drunk.

Ivan was a storyteller, and just kept talking and making all of us laugh while Dimitri paid attention to whatever he said. They complimented each other well.

"Ivan..." Tasha trailed off, coming to a stop behind Ivan's chair. She rested both her hands on either of his shoulders.

He stopped talking to Dimitri as the two of their eyes moved to Tasha. Ivan shifted in his chair so he could see her. "Yeah?"

"Come dance with me," and then she was pulling him out to the dance floor, which was almost empty. It was past midnight and there were a few people here but it was nearly as packed as it normally was.

This left Dimitri and I alone.

We hadn't really talked at all during the course of the night. In fact, I hadn't really talked to anyone. I was more of a listener tonight, despite my usual talkative nature. This was a different setting for me, being around new people. I worked with new people everyday and had met many other people because of Lissa's Queen dealings, but never did I talk with them on a personal level.

Not that I was complaining. Being around them was fun. They offered a getaway from my normal surroundings. It was easy to like them. Tasha was nice, Ivan was hilarious, and Dimitri was just comforting. I could see myself becoming friends with them easily.

We both drank a little more and watched Ivan handle Tasha awkwardly on the dance floor in silence until I spoke.

"So, Dimitri, tell me about yourself." I said, making an effort to know him better. I had hardly made out his character the whole time we'd been here. How pathetic was that?

He shifted in his chair, putting his back to his dancing friends. His dark brown eyes met mine and I could've sworn I felt a shiver run down my spine. Must've been a draft in the bar...

"What would you like to know?"

I laughed. "I don't know. Tell me anything."

"Well, I'm twenty four years old. I was born in Russia, and I like reading westerns." He explained, like he had it prepared. I had a feeling he didn't talk about himself much.

"Westerns? So that's why you're always wearing a duster." My eyes swept over him for emphasis. Every time I saw him, he was wearing a dark brown leather duster. I had to admit it made him look badass.

"I guess you could say that."

"I'm only eighteen," I told him.

His eyes widened a bit and he eyed the drink in my hand. "Should you be drinking?"

I rolled my eyes and held the drink to my chest. "I'm not a little kid. Don't start acting like I need babysitting. I happen to be respected enough around here that no one says anything. I'm not a child," I snapped annoyingly. I didn't need anyone thinking that I needed to be taken care of. I was an adult and if I could guard the Queen, then I could drink alcohol. It was no big deal.

He took a long quiet sip of his clear liquid and then said, "I don't look at you as a child."

I smiled. "Good. I wouldn't want you to."

Things were quiet between us for a couple more minutes before he called a waitress over and asked for another drink.

"Russian vodka?" I questioned, after hearing what he asked for. "Why don't you just drink gasoline. God..." I trailed off, watching as one side of his lip curved upward. I eyed his empty cups. "Is that what you've been drinking this whole time?" I asked incredulously.

He just nodded.

"You've been drinking it like it's water! You're insane." I shook my head, starting to feel tingly because of the drinks. I normally wouldn't have been so openly critical or loud with him, but I was feeling good. "How many glasses have you even had?"

The waitress came by with his drink and he tipped her. "This is my third."

"Jesus," I muttered, shaking my head. "Can I try some?" I asked, looking curiously at the glass. I had only tried it once, but that was a while ago. Maybe things had changed. Maybe I could handle it now.

"Sure," he offered, handing the drink over.

I pulled it to my lips and took a slow sip, immediately coughing and sputtering at the taste. I scrunched my face up like I'd tasted something sour and shook my head, giving the drink back to him. "Nope. It's still disgusting."

"I like it." was all he said before sipping the thing easily.

"Must be a Russian thing," I mentioned, smiling a bit at the look he gave me in response.

From then on, we made small talk, just getting to know each other a little better better as Ivan and Tasha danced together, rarely coming to the table at all. At one point, I wondered if they were together. I didn't feel right asking Dimitri, though.

About an hour before the bar closed, the two of them came by the table and announced that they were going to walk home. After all, the bar wasn't too far from our rooms.

Dimitri and I moved to get up as well, but Tasha stopped us, placing her hands out as she stumbled just a bit. Ivan held onto her firmly. He hadn't drunk nearly as much as Dimitri and I had. He was still probably stable enough to get her home safely, but with the Strigoi watch, it wouldn't be safe for them to leave alone, so we joined them anyway.

Normally, we'd get scolded for drinking with Moroi, but we had brought along a couple guardians when we left the meeting room - it was mandatory that we had sober people to watch after us, especially when in company of the Moroi. They followed us along as we walked to the Moroi quarters.

After that, the two guardians rushed off back to the guardian building, probably to sign out for the day. At the end of the day, being a guardian was an occupation.

Dimitri was staying in a guardian building a couple blocks down, and I was of course staying in the Queen's building, so we had to split up eventually. He offered to walk me to my room, but I politely declined. I didn't want to be an imposition, especially since I had told him time and time again that I didn't need babysitting.

"I thought I said I didn't need looking after," I joked as we walked together. Our buildings were in the same direction, but soon I'd have to walk ahead of him.

"It's nothing like that," he explained, stopping when we came to his building. "Just making sure you get back safely."

"I'm a highly trained guardian, Dimitri Belikov. I think I can manage."

"Good." His eyes bore into mine for a minute before he placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Goodnight."

"Same to you. Tonight was fun," I kept talking, though I had no idea why. We were both tired, and I'm sure he wanted to be in bed right now. "I feel like I _really_ know who Dimitri Belikov is now," I mumbled, more to myself than to him.

It was a lame attempt at being sarcastic, because in actuality, I had hardly gotten much out of him, other than what you'd tell an acquaintance... but wasn't that really all I was? Just someone he'd meet for a couple months and then never see again?

"Were you being sarcastic?" He asked, leaning against the building. A small smile was on his lips.

I smiled back, not able to help myself. "Nothing gets past you," I joked, realizing that it really was late. I looked behind me, just seeing my building in the distance. My bed sounded really comfortable right now.

When I turned back, Dimitri had moved closer and had leaned down. For a quick second, I almost thought he was coming in to kiss me, but that was crazy. Instead, he just got down on eye level with me, looked me in the eye and said, "You look tired. Go home, safely. I'll see you in our next meeting. Goodnight." And then, without another word, he turned around and walked into the building.

I watched the closed door for a moment, and then made my way back to my room.

What I didn't know was that something, or rather someone, was waiting for me.

* * *

**A/N: **Who could it be? Someone dangerous? Probably not. Anyway, please review! Thanks :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **A couple different scenes in this chapter. We see some Adrian, Janine and Lissa. More Dimitri to come, but remember Rose and Dimitri aren't too friendly just yet. Hope you review!

I updated Be Safe, My Love a while ago, and will update I Know You Know soon! Stay tuned for that!

* * *

**Chapter Four: ****Arguments**

"Where have you been?"

The effects of alcohol and my overwhelming sleepiness had caused me to not realize someone was in my room until they had spoken, thus causing me to jump back.

When I met the curious and seemingly frustrated eyes of Adrian in my bed, I breathed out a sigh of relief and held a hand to my chest as it rose and fell rapidly.

"Adrian," I shook my head disbelievingly as I slipped out of my guardian jacket. "You nearly gave me a heartattack."

He got up from under the covers and came up beside me. His chest was bare and he only wore his silk boxers.

"I'm sorry," he apologized gently, and wrapped his arms around my middle. I didn't know why, but it really made me feel smothered, so I shrugged him off, and slipped into the bathroom.

I didn't watch his face for a reaction.

Instead, I started removing my clothes, and washing my face before getting into bed. As I stared myself down in the mirror, Adrian leaned in the doorway, watching me.

"I've been waiting for you all day," he said, scratching his chest nervously.

I met his eyes through the mirror and realized that it _was_ the weekend. Normally, we would have already had sex and would be asleep by now. I blinked in realization and went back to removing my makeup.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here to _satisfy_ you," I said, a bit annoyed. He was only annoyed with me because I hadn't come home when he had expected.

"Hey," he said, coming closer. When I didn't ackowledge him, he placed a hand on my arm, halting my actions. I looked up at him.

"What?"

"It wasn't like that, Rose. I wanted to spend time with you. We usually spend the weekends together. We've been doing this for months now." His thumb ran over my arm comfortingly and I relaxed. I didn't know why I had been so mean to him. He was only asking where I had been. This wasn't an interrogation.

After all, he had a right to know...didn't he?

I sighed. "I don't know," I murmured to myself outloud, before I could stop it.

"Huh?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. It's nothing."

I cleaned the rest of my face quickly, and then faced Adrian fully.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting. I was stressed after work and went out for drinks."

"Lucy's?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off, leaning against the bathroom sink.

"Well, why didn't you call me? You know I would've joined you in a heartbeat."

"I went with Tasha, Ivan and Dimitri," I explained, noticing how his brows furrowed at the mention of Ivan. I almost scoffed. If there was anyone Adrian should've been worried about, it wasn't Ivan...it was Dimitri._  
_

Whoa. Where had that come from? This alcohol must've been making me think weird. I vaguely recalled thinking thoughts like these earlier today before the alcohol. Shaking my head, I started walking back into the bedroom.

Adrian's unwavering eyes made me feel odd. Almost like I was guilty.

"Did you have a good time?" Adrian asked as he slipped into bed. I still stood, changing into a big t-shirt and cotton shorts. I could tell Adrian wanted details, probably because of Ivan, but he didn't want to outright ask, in fear of seeming controlling...or dare I say, jealous.

"Yes," I admitted. "_Ivan_ and Tasha spent the whole time dancing."

I wanted to emphasize the fact that I hadn't spent time with Ivan at all, because Adrian was irritating me with this. But, in doing that, I only averted his suspicions.

"So you drank alone with Dimitri?" I turned my back to him, taking off my bra, and rolled my eyes. Was he serious?

"Yes, why is that a problem?"

I turned around, now in my night clothes but didn't get into bed. I crossed my arms and challenged him.

"I'm just-"

"It's not like I'm _with_ anyone. I'm allowed to drink with whoever I want. You've made it clear plenty times that whatever we have is just a casual thing." I felt my chest clenching with the admission. I hadn't voiced my insecurities and questions about _us_ before, and doing it was a dangerous thing.

I felt his emerald eyes analyzing me.

"I thought that was what you wanted," he said, his voice sounding confused. Things were silent between us for a moment. "Do you want more?"

Sighing, I walked toward the bed and laid down beside him. He leaned up on an elbow and looked down at me. I didn't want to talk about this now...or ever really. "I don't know what I want," I admitted truthfully and placed a hand on his chest. "But I do know that I don't want to fight with you."

After that, he wrapped me in his arms and we fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up feeling groggy and with a headache.

I yawned loudly and heard movement in the bathroom. The shower was running, and the other side of the bed was empty.

Remembering how last night played out, I felt pretty bad for getting so angry so quickly. I didn't know why I had reacted that way, or why I was so defensive. All I knew was that Adrian meant more to me than I wanted to admit, and I needed his forgiveness.

So I stood up, stretched and then slipped into the bathroom as silently as possible.

Adrian has his back to the glass shower door, so if I moved quickly, I could surprise him.

Swiftly, I undressed myself and then opened the shower door.

I wrapped my arms around his torso and rested my cheek against his wet back.

"What?" he said, surprised. He looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. "What did I do to deserve this," he joked, and I felt even worse. I treated him badly, and he was normal as ever, with his amusing banter.

I kissed his back and then squeezed him tightly. "I'm sorry for yesterday." I didn't elaborate because I felt like that was all that needed to be said right now.

He turned around, loosening my grip on him and kissed my forehead.

"It's alright. I'm not that sensitive," he joked and then kissed me.

Like that, we were back to normal.

* * *

The weekend passed like normal, and Adrian and I got over the small rough patch. I knew we'd eventually have to talk things through and figure out what we really wanted from each other, but now wasn't the time.

When I stepped into the meeting room when the week began, I was in a good mood.

Not even my mother's intense stare could bring me down today. She had just asked if I had found any water or air users. When I said no, she shot me that glare of hers, but I smiled in return and looked away.

"Did you do nothing this weekend?" She asked, knowing for sure what I was doing this weekend. She had walked in on Adrian and I before, the last time she visited Court, and had learned of Adrian and I's sexual relationship. She didn't understand it, and obviously hated the idea.

Calling me out on it this way wasn't fair though. The others might not have seen the connection, but the underlying tone in her voice made her innuendo clear.

"I don't think need to ask about who-excuse me- I mean _what_ I did this weekend," I shot back, knowing that it wasn't professional one bit, but she deserved it.

I noticed curious glances from a few people in the room, but ignored them.

I stood up. "Guardian Hathaway, I'd like to talk to you in private."

"Whatever you have to say, you can see in front of everyone," my mother shot, standing her ground, but she wasn't in control here. I had one of the highest positions here, and just because she was my mother didn't mean she had power over me.

"No, as head guardian, I think I have the right to ask for a private discussion."

We were almost at each other's throats now, leaning toward each other over the table.

Alberta was the next to speak. "We can leave if you'd like, Guardian Hathaway," she said, staring at me. The name seemed to confuse me mother because she opened her mouth to deny Alberta's suggestion.

I spoke before she did. "That was be greatly appreciated," I told her, and everyone was silent as they filed out of the room.

Any other day, I'd have been embarrassed by the scene we had caused, but I was tired of my mother talking down to me like I was a child. _I'm not a child. I don't need taking care of_.

My words from the other night with Dimitri found their way into my mind. He had said he didn't see me as a child, so why did my mother still look at me that way?

When the door closed, I controlled my loudness level, nervous that the group outside could hear, even though the room was sound proof. We Hathaways could be _loud._

"What is your problem?" I asked, staring her down.

"I could ask you the same question."

"No, no, you can't, because I'm not the one staring the arguments here. We can't go through one meeting without you saying something belittling to me. I may be your daughter, but I am your equal here. Hell," I started, "I'm not even your equal. I'm technically above you."

"If you acted maturely, then I would give you my respect. You are still the same person you were in high school-immature, unruly, irresponsible-"

"Excuse me? Are you really going to accuse me of being those things while you're in here bringing up irrelevant things while we're _working_? If anyone is acting immaturely here, it is you. You're shooting down my suggestions, and asking me to find people on short notice. Making Court a safer place is going to take time. I know we're on a time crunch here, but if we want it to be done right, we need to take our time. I'm sorry if you think I'm acting a certain way, but I disagree with you. From now on, think before you say something in front of our group that could make them think less of you."

"I've spent years building my reputation. Trust me, no one will think any less of me. You on the other hand..." she trailed off.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, trying to calm myself down, but I swore she was just doing this to get me angry.

"Everyone knows of your relationship with Lord Ivashkov. If anyone is tearing down their reputation, it's you."

I gaped. "My personal life has nothing to do with this, or my reputation."

"Everything you do effects your reputation."

"You have no right to bring Adrian into this."

We both realized at the same time that the door was open. I turned, meeting a familiar pair of brown eyes.

I hoped he hadn't heard us talking, especially about Adrian and I.

"I think we're going to call it quits for today," Dimitri said, before looking at me a moment longer than what would be normal. He nodded and closed the door and I cursed internally.

He had heard us.

I looked to my mother. "I don't want anyone here thinking I'm not capable of doing my job, because of your objections to my personal life. So, if you don't mind, please refrain from speaking to me at all from now on."

* * *

"It was brutal," I confessed to Lissa after the meeting had been called to a close because of my mother and I's feud.

"Do you want me to pull her from the assignment?" Lissa asked, eating a slice of nectarine.

I stopped, my mind bursting with surprise. I hadn't expected Lissa to suggest something so brash, but it was understandable. If my mother was preventing me from performing my best, or causing our group to close meetings early, then it was a problem, but I didn't want her to lose her job over this.

Maybe I cared about her more than I thought. Eventually, I said, "No. Don't do that. We'll get over it. It's just stress," I lied, biting my lip.

I changed the topic.

"So, how does it feel to know you have a baby in the oven?" I asked playfully, my mood lifting at the mention of the life growing within my best friend.

She smiled and swallowed her food before answering, "It's amazing. I can't feel anything yet, because its way early, but I'm so excited. I desperately want to go baby shopping, but Christian thinks it's too early."

I smiled, agreeing with Christian, but said, "Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Don't worry. I've been buying stuff online. What he doesn't know what bother him."

"Smart choice."

She nodded and started eating some more. "I know. Online shopping is the perfect choice right now, if I want to wait to announce this to everyone."

I had forgotten about that. She was Queen, and would have to tell everyone about her pregnancy eventually. It must've been a huge pain to let everyone in on your personal life just because you had a high position. I knew a little something about that...

"You don't have to do it right away. Just whenever you feel comfortable. Not everyone has to know about your personal life as it's happening."

"I know. I just don't think I'll ever be comfortable with letting so many people know, but it comes with the territory. It's a sacrifice that I'll have to live with."

I searched her mind, looking for any extra worry. A lot of worrying couldn't be good for the baby, and if I had to, I would take it away.

As I suspected, the darkness in her had built up quicker than usual. So, standing up, I told her I needed to use the bathroom and as I splashed water on my face, I took it away.

Over time, I had learned ways to keep myself from going out of control if the darkness was a lot to handle. This was one of my methods, using cold water to keep me in line.

After a minute or two, the negative feelings left and I dried my face off.

Just another day, this was.

* * *

**A/N: **Hopefully you liked this chapter enough to let me know what you think?


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: RM owns VA.**

**A/N: **This ones a really long one. I hope you like it. It's got a _lot_.

**Chapter Five: Progressions**

"Hey."

Dropping down from the bar, I turned around and caught the eyes of Dimitri.

I had just finished my shift with Lissa, and decided to stop by the guardian gym to work out. I hadn't expected any company, seeing as how this was one of the smaller, less used gyms around court. In fact, before today, I had thought I was the only one who occupied it, because I had never seen anyone in here before.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Surprised at his arrival, I moved to sit down on a weight bench.

"What are you doing here?"

After asking such a dumb question that I knew the answer to, I scrunched up my face at myself and then scooted further up on the bench.

"Isn't it obvious?" Dimitri asked, one side of his mouth curved up. He was laughing at me.

Rolling my eyes, I laid down on the bench and stretched my arms around, getting ready to do a few bench presses. "Yes. It was a dumb question."

He made no move to respond, so we both continued in silence.

I reached up to the bar and grabbed a hold of it tightly, before pulling it to my chest.

Slowly, I counted in my head the amount of times I brought the bar down.

Some times later, I realized Dimitri had stopped whatever he was doing and had come over to me. He stood above me watching as I lowered and raised the weights.

"What?" I breathed out a little heavily. I was really pushing it today, and it was getting harder for me to continue.

"Impressive" was all he said, and then continued on watching me.

Feeling the pressure of his gaze, I found it hard to concentrate on what I was doing. Before I knew it, my grip slipped and the bar fell harshly onto my chest. I panicked and started gasping for air. Immediately, Dimitri was lifting the bar back onto its rack.

Catching my breath, I sat up and placed a hand on my forehead, wiping the sweat. I stood, wordlessly, and walked over to my bag, grabbing my water and a towel.

"Jesus," I whispered to myself, still a little shaken up.

I took a sip of my water.

"Are you alright?"

I had almost forgotten he was there. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said, a little irritated with myself. How could I had let that happen? That was such a novice move right there. It was even more embarrassing that Dimitri was there.

But then again, I was thankful for his presence. Had he not been there, who knows what would've happened.

Then I reminded myself that it was his pressuring eyes that had caused my grip to slip in the first place.

"That never happens," I told him, not really sure why I did. Probably because my pride was faltering. I didn't want him, or anyone, to think I was incapable of anything dealing with endurance or strength.

He barely spared me a glance from what he was now doing. I caught his eyes briefly as he did a set of arm curls. I tried not to notice how his muscles bulged from underneath the sleeve of his black t-shirt.

For some reason I kept talking. "And when I say never, I mean _never_."

He stopped and put the weight down. "Okay. I get it."

I wasn't convinced. I really wanted his approval. I had no explanation why.

"I'm being serious."

He moved to the weight bench, where my little struggle had taken place. He took a hold of the bar easily and lifted it up and down.

I glared at him.

Walking over, I gripped the bar and forced it back on the rack.

He gave me an odd look and remained where he was. I had his attention now.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"What do you want me to say?" I opened my mouth to respond, but he wasn't done. "That I think you're unable to handle yourself in the gym?"

"I-"

"Because I don't. I have high respect for you, and I know that you're perfectly adequate in your training. One misstep is not going to change my opinion of you."

It was funny how on par he was with what I was thinking. He had answered my thoughts fully without me even having to tell him anything. I was shocked.

I felt like he was reading my mind, which wasn't exactly a good feeling. We had known each other for less than a month, and I felt like he could read my easily. Yet, I could hardly make out anything about him. The night at the bar hadn't gotten me anywhere really. He had only introduced me to the facts about him, rather than his character.

After a moment of being lost in my thoughts, I refocused on him and realized that he had been staring at me the whole time. No, not staring, but studying me.

His eyes swept slowly over my full body once and I suddenly felt bare. I had on a sport's bra and a pair of track pants. I wasn't dressing for anyone else's eyes. Again, I had thought I would be alone, like always, in this gym.

"Um-" I started anxiously, folding my arms over my body for some type of shield. I ended up not saying anything, and just cleared my throat to try and diffuse the tension.

Dimitri went back to weight lifting.

I averted my eyes and walked back over to my bag. Pulling out a shirt, I covered up and was going to leave, but then stopped myself.

"Dimitri?" I called nervously.

He sat up on the bench and raised an eyebrow.

I stepped closer. "About what you heard the other day..." I scratched my arm. "No one was supposed to hear that. I just wanted to-"

"Don't worry about it," he said, stopping me from continuing on. I was partly thankful for that because who knew what I would've started to say. I wasn't the best at interpreting things in awkward situations...obviously. "Like I said, my opinion of you won't change so easily."

I dared to meet his eyes. "Thank you."

It was silent after that, and we both gave each other small smiles before I decided it was time to leave.

As I walked out of the gym, I realized that I had come a little bit closer to making out who Dimitri was.

* * *

The next day, I had a busy schedule.

First, I was needed for a guarding shift, then when that was over, I'd have to rush over to my strategist meeting.

When I entered Lissa's quarters, I came face to face with Dimitri, Ivan and Tasha.

Lissa met my eyes and smiled at me to let me know nothing was wrong. Their appearance made me assume the worst, like a breach or another attack. I stood at the doorway, and caught the eyes of Dimitri, who stood like a shadow behind Ivan. We both nodded at each other's presence. I didn't miss the small smile on his face either.

I soon realized that I was smiling as well.

After standing in the room for a couple minutes, I had learned that Ivan and Tasha were talking to Lissa about starting Moroi defense classes here at Court.

It wasn't a secret that Tasha was a proud activist in the matter, and was very skilled at defense tactics. I knew that she taught some classes back where she lived, and I wouldn't have been surprised if her student roster included some Moroi who were secretly attempting to gain skills like hers.

It wasn't such a huge deal if these practices were done in secret and away from the spotlight, but to try and start official classes here at Court? That was almost unheard of. Hell, it was almost treasonous.

If anyone but Lissa had been Queen, then they probably would've scoffed at their proposal.

I noticed a couple of guardians in the room gaping at their suggestion.

The passion in their eyes was palpable, though. They were also very persuasive. Even I was feeling supportive toward their cause. Light filled Lissa's eyes. I knew that Christian had inherited his aunt's interest in defensive magic, so I assumed this wasn't a foreign topic to Lissa.

In fact, she seemed to support them as well.

A half hour had passed when their meeting of sorts started coming to a close.

"I really hope you consider this, Vasilisa. It would be very helpful and would work to everyone's advantage if Strigoi do in fact infiltrate Court one day."

Lissa stood along with them and held her hand out. "You don't have to convince me any further. I fully support you guys. I'll back you on this, but remember, I've got a handful of other people I've got to go through before this is accepted. It won't be easy."

Ivan gave a smirk and shook her hand firmly. "We're up for the challenge."

I approached the group and sat down at the table, where they stood. I knew Lissa would spend the rest of our time together sifting through the many piles of files she had on the desk.

"Rose," Tasha remarked. "When did you arrive?"

"A while ago."

"I didn't even notice," she exclaimed. "I would've said hello. How rude of me!"

I laughed at her worries. "No big deal. I'm a guardian. I'm meant to go unnoticed. The fact that I was able to enter without you noticing is a good thing."

"Yes, I suppose so." she said, smiling like always.

"You guardians and your light feet," said Ivan jokingly. "That man over there scares me half to death sometimes."

Ivan's line of vision brought all of our attention to Dimitri, who kept his distance. His seemed to stiffen at the sudden attention and I felt the urge to laugh.

"One of these days, you should get him back for that," I suggest, this time laughing for real.

Ivan's eyes sparkled with humor. "Oh, trust me, I've tried. It's impossible to scare him."

I crossed my arms, at the new discovery. Dimitri's eyes stayed locked with mine. I smirked dangerously. "Oh, really? I'm sure there's _some way_ we can scare him."

"I wouldn't recommend it." was all Dimitri responded with, a mischievous look in his eye that I'm sure only I saw.

The conversation around us continued. Ivan dove into a short story about how he had unsuccessfully tried to scare Dimitri, and how it backfired. But while the three others talked, Dimitri and I seemed to be having a staring match.

Something tugged at my mind through the bond and I looked away, toward Lissa.

For the moment, she, too, had pulled out of the conversation and was watching me questionably. Her eyes looked curiously between Dimitri and I.

Not long after, Tasha and Ivan said their goodbyes, and Dimitri followed.

When I checked my wristwatch, I realized that I had a couple more hours with Lissa.

* * *

Lissa was about half way through her papers when she stopped and looked up at me.

I knew it was coming. She had hardly paid any attention to the papers she had already read through, because she was extremely curious about the little interaction between Dimitri and I.

I couldn't wait for her to ask.

I knew she'd be let down with my answer, but oh well.

She had thought it up in her mind that Dimitri and I had somehow liked each other, that I was somehow interested in him in _that_ way. She was going to ask if anything had happened between us, but nothing had. Thus, the disappointing answer.

When her staring had gone on for too long, I finally met her gaze and stopped pretending that I was focused on something else.

I gave her a knowing look.

"Go ahead and ask away."

She breathed a sigh of relief, and dare I say excitement, and then, "Did something happen with Dimitri?" Her eyes were bubbling with excitement and I almost felt sorry for the oncoming let down.

"No." I said meagerly and rested my chin in my hand, watching her amusingly.

She blinked once, a little taken back by my short answer. "No?" I shook my head. "Are you sure, because with the way you guys were looking at each other..."

I laughed. "What?"

She stopped and regarded me seriously. "Well, let's just say, that if Adrian was there, he'd would've been overflowing with jealousy."

My brows furrowed.

"Why?"

"Are you kidding? I thought I was going to have to stand between you guys! You looked like you were two seconds away from going at it."

Now it was my turn to be taken back. I laughed incredulously. "No we didn't!"

She shook her head at my denial, and looked down at her paper, but I was smart enough to know she still wasn't paying much attention to what it read.

"It isn't like that with him," I told her, wanting her to know that nothing had happened. The fact that she even thought something had happened could cause problems.

After my little argument with Adrian, I didn't need anything coming between our arrangement. Truth was, I liked our weekends.

There. Admission. I admitted it. He brought me pleasure, again and again, and was very good with his hands. It was all I needed right now, or at least I believed so.

I didn't want to believe that Lissa and Adrian were talking behind my back, but I had gone into her head last week when she was on the phone with him. The two of them were talking about me. I hadn't meant to eavesdrop, so I pulled out as soon as I knew she was safe. She didn't know it, but a couple times I day, I would drop in, just to be sure she was safe.

Now that I knew she was talking to him, I didn't her to say something about Dimitri to him. Adrian and Lissa were friends, so I had no reason to be angry with her for talking to him, but I just didn't want Dimitri to be mentioned.

Adrian was already aware of him, and that was bad enough.

A rare smirk was brought to Lissa lips and she looked back up at me.

Immediately, I knew I had said the wrong thing.

"So what's it like, then?"

I groaned. "It's not like _anything_. What I meant was: we do _not_ like each other. You're delusional to think I'd be interested in being involved with anyone right now, other than Adrian. I'm too busy to be in a relationship. I thought we all knew that already. I'm fully committed to you, and while being with someone would be nice, it isn't everything. This whole weekend thing I've got with Adrian is enough."

"But I thought you were considering getting serious with Adrian?" She seemed surprised by my statement.

I laughed. "My God, Lissa. Why are you so interested in my love life?"

She momentarily asked for the guardians in the room to step out of the room and then grasped my hand. "Rose, all I want is to see you happy. Before you say anything, I haven't forgotten what you said back when we were in high school."

I knew right away what she was talking about.

Junior year, we were having a sleep over and she was gabbing on and on about Christian and their future. I had confided to her that I had always hoped I'd have something like that, but that I had known that it wasn't going to happen. She had been sad about my confession then and probably felt the same way now.

"I _am_ happy, Liss, and I also told you that day that I knew I wasn't going to get _your_ happy ending."

She frowned. "Why not? You have a right to be with someone, Rose. If you want, I can sign you up for less shifts. It'll give you more time to yourself. You don't have to be working so much. You can see where this thing with Adrian goes. Give him a chance. He really-"

"No, please, Lissa. Don't interfere with my job. I love being a guardian. I don't have time for a personal life. No guardian does, and a relationship with Adrian just isn't possible. I know I've said before that I could see us being together as more than just a sexual relationship, and part of me still wants that, I'll admit, but it won't work."

I kept going.

"Adrian is a Royal Moroi. I'm a guardian. I hate clichés more than anyone, but it's just not meant to be. It's not feasible."

"But he really likes you, Rose! Listen," she took a loud breath, "I swore to him that I wouldn't say anything, but I have to. He _wants_ to be with you, Rose."

I turned away from her, gripping the chair in my hands. I really did not want to hear this. Mostly because I had it in my mind that Adrian and I couldn't be together, no matter what my confused thoughts were, but also because hearing the admission of his true feelings for me was unbearable.

Thinking that he only wanted a weekend thing was hurtful, but knowing that he wanted me maybe like I secretly wanted him was even worse. God, I was so confused with how I felt. I didn't want Adrian, but I did.

And then there was Dimitri. _No, I already said that was nothing_.

Lissa was still talking.

"He wants a relationship, Rose. He told me so. He loves-"

My stomach dropped.

"Stop!"

I was breathing out loudly when I faced her.

"Please, stop."

Her mouth opened, and I knew that she was going to keep telling me all that Adrian had confessed but I couldn't handle anymore.

"I've got to go. The strategist meeting is about to start, and," I looked her in the eye. "And, I can't hear anymore. Please don't bring this up again."

Her eyes looked at me sadly and I realized that a tear had fallen out of my eye. Almost like it was a foreign liquid, I wiped at the tear and stared at my hand confusedly.

Lissa and I looked at each other for a moment longer before I left, telling the guardians they could return to their post.

* * *

**A/N: **Wow. So, what did you think? I put my heart and soul into this chapter and I hope you guys liked it enough to comment. I really want to know what you think about how the AdrianxRosexDimitri triangle is progressing.

Personally, I love Adrian and Dimitri both, but I already know how I want this to end up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **Hope you like this one. :)

**Chapter Six: Confusion**

"Are you alright, Rose?"

Pulling out of my thoughts, I looked around the strategist meeting room and realized that it was empty. Looking to the voice beside me, I realized Dimitri stood to my right and had one hand on my shoulder. Concern was in his eyes.

I rolled my seat out from under the desk and stood up. Glancing behind us to see the door wide open, I realized the meeting had ended. I completely blanked to whole time. My mind was obviously preoccupied.

Lissa had dumped a lot on me earlier and I didn't think I could handle doing anything productive today.

"Rose?"

Shaking my head, I turned to Dimitri who still stood beside me questionably and searched for words.

"Yeah?"

"I asked if you were okay? You were out of it the whole time."

My eyes drifted down to my feet. "Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just...tired." Not wanting to talk about it, I turned to leave to room, but Dimitri grasped my hand and stopped me.

I turned, my eyes on our hands and he released me at once. I stared at him curiously.

His throat cleared and he looked a little flustered. I had no idea why. "Are you sure you're alright?"

My eyes drifted toward the door, making sure no one was waiting around and listening. Finally, I sighed.

"No. I'm not."

"What happened? You were fine when I saw you earlier." He eyes searched mine.

Did I really want to tell him all about Adrian and I? Or my argument with Lissa? "It's just-" _No_. I didn't. That was none of his business and I didn't want to get him involved or let him know about my personal problems. "You know what? Nevermind. I can handle it. It's no big deal."

I tried to smile convincingly and then walked out quickly before he could say anything else.

I was used to handling things like this by myself, so this was no different. I could deal with this. I was just stressed, and overwhelmed with all that was going on. And to add to all of that, I still had to find users we could trust.

* * *

It was late; I knew that. But I needed him to come over. He didn't know what Lissa had told me, or so I assumed, so he would assume things between us were the same, right?

Dialing a familiar number, I waited nervously and read the clock once more. It was the middle of the night, and I would have to get up in less than five hours for work, but I needed the comfort he brought.

"Hello?"

His voice was raspy over the line and I knew I had woken him. I was about to apologize for waking him and hang up, but that was no use. I had already woken him up and I needed to see him.

"Adrian."

"Rose? What time is it?" There was a pause. "Damn, it's late... Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, no. Listen, uh, I know we normally don't do this during the week...but I was wondering if you could come over? I want to see you."

He was silent over the line and I bit my lip nervously. For a moment I thought he'd say no. I hoped he wouldn't.

"Please?" I tried.

"Uh...sure. Yeah, just give me time to get over there." I smiled thankfully and then hung up the phone. He'd never let me down.

As I waited, I thought about what Lissa had said. She had said Adrian wanted more, which confused me because of the times he would act like I meant nothing to him. The other day when I brought that up, he had said he thought it was what I wanted. Was that it then? Did he only act that way toward me because he thought it was what I wanted?

I had to get to the bottom of this.

And then, she had almost said the three words. That he loved me. Gosh, that one was over the top. I didn't know how much I liked Adrian, but I was pretty sure it wasn't love. Was it? I had no idea. I'd never been in love before.

A knock at the door brought me out of my thoughts and I got up from the bed to let him in.

"I thought you had a key?" I asked him, taking in his appearance. His hair was fairly messy, and not purposely styled that way. His eyes were a little puffy and his clothes rumpled.

Despite my inner battle, I smiled because he looked incredibly cute.

He stepped inside and drew me into his embrace. It was funny that he knew it was exactly what I needed. "I left here on accident last weekend."

"Oh."

He pulled away slightly and looked me over. I hadn't gotten any sleep, because my thoughts kept me up and I was sure he could tell. I probably didn't look as pretty for him today. I sighed at his probing eyes and just wanted for him to hold me again.

My mind wandered again. Did I love Adrian?

I stopped myself. I didn't even know if he loved me! He had never mentioned this and just because Lissa said something didn't mean I had to take it to heart. And besides, maybe she was going to say something else? Like, he loves spending time with you or he loves being with you? That didn't mean he _loved_ me, right?

I had no idea.

When I refocused on him, his eyes were staring at me curiously. It reminded me of how Dimitri had looked at me earlier, but that was a whole other story.

"What's wrong?"

I couldn't tell him either. If I did, it would only bring up a long conversation that I didn't want to have with him right now.

"It doesn't matter. You're here and that's all I care about."

His smile was so bright and then suddenly I knew what Lissa was going to say. She wasn't going to say he loved spending time with me, or being around me. No, she was going to say that he loved me.

God. I wasn't sure if that was really bad or really good.

"Come on," Adrian said and then we went to bed together.

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, Adrian was sleeping soundlessly beside me.

I stretched while still in bed and shut off the alarm coming from my phone. I was guarding Lissa today, because she was going somewhere outside of Court for a meeting, and she needed her best guardians around her. But I wasn't sure if things were going to pleasant between us today. We hadn't argued exactly, but I felt like things were going to be strained because of how it had ended up.

I wasn't going to let that bring me down though.

True, I had felt really conflicted yesterday, but spending the night with Adrian had done wonders. His mouth, his tongue, his hands.

I sighed happily and then stood up. The cold air brought goosebumps to my bare body and I rushed into the bathroom for a hot shower.

A half hour later, I was dressed and ready and about to leave when I decided to let Adrian know I'd be gone for the whole day because of the plane ride we'd be taking to travel across the country.

When I shook him, his eyes cracked open just barely and then when he came to his senses, he sat up and noticed I was dressed and ready for work. He also saw the small shoulder bag I had with two changes of clothes, just in case these were ruined somehow. I had two stakes on me. One in my clothes and the other hidden in my bag.

"Where are you going?"

"I've got to go with Lissa to California for the day."

"Okay..." he trailed off, rubbing his eyes.

"I just thought I'd tell you so you didn't wait for me all day. We don't get back until late late."

"Well, alright. Have a safe flight."

I flinched. Maybe Lissa had been wrong? No, I saw it in his eyes last night. He felt something for me. But then how could he act like this, like he didn't care what I did?

Sure he had just woken up, but he had just woken up last night and he was sweet to me. God, why did I even care so much?

I looked down at my feet and then turned around.

"Well, okay, don't forget to lock the door when you leave," I spit and slammed the door shut.

I walked quickly to the runway, where I was expected to join the rest of the guardians. My phone had been buzzing nonstop since I left the room and I suspected that it was Adrian trying to reach me, but I didn't want to listen to whatever he had to say. If I had to tell him what was wrong, then that was a problem.

"We're not together," I reminded myself as I came to a stop beside a couple other guardians. I was supposed to go straight into the plane, where Lissa would be, but I needed a minute to get myself together.

I heard a couple other guardians talking and something they said caught my attention.

"...flights being delayed..."

"...that's okay, not everyone's here anyway..."

"What's going on?" I asked, butting in. The group of mostly males turned to me, not surprised by my presence, because they were trained to know I was there. They were probably surprised I decided to speak up. I normally didn't associate with guardians I didn't know well.

One of them spoke up. I didn't know his name. He was one of the newer ones.

"Pilot says there's some storms approaching. He says we'll have to delay the flight thirty minutes, but it's nothing out of the ordinary."

"And who are we missing? Someone said, 'not everyone was here.' Is the Queen not on the plane, yet?"

Again, it was the same guardian who spoke. "No, her Majesty is on board. Apparently more passengers are coming. The Queen just told us this morning."

"What?" I asked, pissed now even more than before. "How come I don't know about this?" Could we trust these extra people? Who the hell was coming with us? I should've been told about this.

"We assumed the Queen had told you. Aren't you her head guardian?" I caught the sarcastic tone in his voice, and I glared at him.

"What's your name?" I asked. He stopped cold and stared at me like he was in trouble. He should be scared, I thought. Try and mess with me right now.

"Guardian Jason Banks."

I said nothing else and then walked to the steps of the plane.

I could only imagine what was running through his mind now. He was probably expecting a punishment of extra shifts or something, but just getting his name was enough for me. That way he was left wondering if he was going to be in deep shit. I wasn't going to punish him though. Scaring him enough to see the look on his face was priceless, and would suffice.

I set my bag down and then searched for Lissa, who was just stepping out of the bathroom on board.

I approached her quickly and kept my voice down so the two guardians at the door wouldn't hear.

"Why didn't you tell me more people were coming?" I asked, trying to stay calm.

"I was about to tell you now. Is there a problem with more guests?"

I scoffed, but tried not to show her how angry I was. "Yes, Lissa, we need to search them thoroughly and make sure we can trust them. This is a long process and we've got to do background checks. Who is-"

"I've arrived!" called a familiar voice from behind me and my eyes widened. A smile crossed Lissa's face and she knew I was eating my words right now.

Turning around, I smirked at the two Moroi and dhampir who stood in the cabin now.

Ivan winked at me, and said once again, "I've arrived."

I laughed at pushed him back so I could get to my seat. "Out of the way, Zeklos."

"Hey!" he whined, looking at Dimitri who had a small look of contentment on his face. For some reason, I felt completely calm now. "Are you going to let her do that to me, Dimitri? You're my guardian! Aren't you supposed to protect me from any threats?"

Before Dimitri could say anything, I stated, "Ivan, even Dimitri could not protect you from me."

"I wouldn't doubt him if I were you," Tasha joked, while smiling and sat down across from me. "It might hurt Dimitri's pride."

"You guys sure like to talk about me a lot," Dimitri said and put his small bag in one of the upper compartments. He picked mine up as well, without me having to ask and put it beside his. I smiled in thanks at him and something in me sparked when he sat down next to me.

I caught Lissa's eyes from across the cabin and caught her smiling. I rolled my eyes and leaned my head against the head rest.

"Feeling better?" Dimitri asked, when things quieted down and rain pounded against the plane. I looked out the window to see that the guardians were all out there, fighting the rain without umbrellas. Looks like Mother Nature had decided to punish Mr. Jason Banks in her own way.

"Now? I'm good. Not everything's settled, but I'm okay. I'm just ready to take off already."

"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know," he said, giving me a small smile. I was really starting to like those smiles.

I laughed. "Can you make the rain stop, so we can leave?" I asked and then Dimitri shook his head.

"I don't have that kind of power, unfortunately."

"I didn't think so," I said while still smiling.

"Hey, Rose?" Lissa called from across the cabin. I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow questionably. She had a phone to her ear. "Adrian's calling for you. It sounds important."

Everyone's eyes were on me and I knew I had to take the call now. I had ignored my own phone and so he called Lissa, knowing she would pick up. Now everyone was listening to what I was going to say and I hated that he had done that.

Angry, I got the phone from her and tried not to think about how everyone could hear.

"What?" I asked, harshly.

There was a lot of noise on the other end and I could hardly even hear him. What the hell was he doing?

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

I eyed the people around me. "I can't talk about it right now."

"You don't have a choice," he said, sounding seemingly frustrated. I heard commotion outside, a couple of the guardians were yelling something over the rain, so I hung up the phone before I could ask him what he meant.

Dimitri and I joined the two guardians at the door, ready for any type of threat, but no, it wasn't Strigoi, or a rebellious Moroi or dhampir. In fact, Adrian wasn't a threat to anyone on this plane...except maybe me.

He shoved himself against the guardian who held him back from entering the plane. He was soaked and wore the rumpled clothes from yesterday. _He had run through the rain to get here? He was crazy_.

"Let me in!" He yelled and then met my eyes. His hair was stuck to his face and he looked like he was ready to use complusion on everyone to get through. "Let me in god damn it. Rose, tell them! I'm Lord Adrian Ivashkov. I order you to let me pass!"

That didn't work though. Under my strict orders, _no one _was allowed to see Lissa unless I okayed it.

By this time, everyone was at the plane door watching as Adrian tried to fight his way up the steps. Dimitri's eyes seemed to judge me, as well as everyone else, especially since they knew he was here for me.

Finally, I yelled through the noise, "Let him up. It's okay, guardians. I'm allowing it. Let him in. He's no threat."

And like that, they released him and he rushed up the steps. We made room for him to enter and Lissa brought a blanket out from somewhere to cover him and help him dry off. He was soaked.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked incredulously. I faintly heard Lissa tell the other two guardians to leave for the time being. They obeyed, and why she didn't ask Tasha and Ivan and Dimitri to leave, I didn't know. Probably because she didn't want them to get wet.

Adrian caught his breath and then said, "You weren't answering your phone, Rose."

"Okay?" I threw my hands up. "We've already established that. Jesus, Adrian, are you crazy? You're lucky the guardians didn't attack you! I can't believe you. Why would you think this was okay?"

"I had to see you. I couldn't let you leave thinking that-"

"What?" I asked, just feeling worn out now. I stopped yelling, and spoke at a normal level.

He stood up, the blanket on his shoulders as the other people in the room tried not to stare at us. He stopped in front of me and put his hands on my cheeks. The fact that other people were listening didn't seem to bug Adrian. He only had eyes for me.

"I couldn't let you leave thinking that I don't care about you. I'm sorry! I'm sorry I was an asshole earlier. I saw it on your face when I hurt you. I'm such an idiot. This has been going on for too long..."

"What?" I said again.

"I love you." He said out of nowhere and my mouth dropped. Hearing him actually say it was different from Lissa telling me.

It was so much more.

I was silent.

"Say something" he begged, his eyes searching mine.

I shook my head, speechless. "I dont-" I had no idea what to say.

Lissa dared to speak, "Rose," she started in a careful voice, "if you want, you can stay. I'll bring another guardian in your place. You guys can talk-"

"No," I had told her not to interfere with my job. I didn't want that to happen. "No, I'm still going."

Adrian still stood in front of me regarding me carefully. He was watching every movement I made, trying to find a reaction to his words, but I just couldn't anymore. This was too much too soon. I needed time to think. I cared about Adrian so much, but I didn't know if I wanted to take that step. I had thought I did once and part of me still did now, but there was a lot to think about.

"Rose?" he started, looking completely hurt by my rejection.

"Adrian..." I began, but he pulled away and took off the blanket.

When I reached out for him, he shook his head and left the plane. I didn't stop him. I probably should have, but the rain had just stopped and we would probably be leaving soon. I wasn't going to miss the flight. I needed to be with Lissa. I was her guardian.

I sat back down, noticing how everyone tried their hardest not to look at me or stop speaking. They had somehow found something to talk about at all times. A little while after the plane took off, Lissa came over to me and sat down. Dimitri had taken a seat somewhere else after the Adrian debacle and the spot next to me had been empty until now.

"Rose?" she said quietly, just loud enough so I could hear here about the plane's jets.

I turned to her, my eyes wet with tears.

"Oh, Rose," she cried, taking me into her arms as I shook.

"He said it and I had no idea what to do, Lissa," I mumbled. "I'm such a horrible person. I should've been strong enough to tell him that I needed to think about things, and talk about it with him, but I couldn't. Now he thinks I don't like him and he probably hates me. I've ruined us."

"No, honey, no you didn't. You just panicked. If he truly loves you, he'll understand."

"You saw his face. He looked horrible."

"Rose, do you want to be with him?" she asked. "The truth."

I looked at her. "I don't know. Part of me does and part of me doesn't. God, you were right! I do still want that happy ending. I'm so stupid. You're not supposed to be comforting me. It's supposed to be the other way around. I'm supposed to be alert, and I'm here crying like a stupid heartbroken teenager."

"Rose, no one is going to attack us on the plane. And did you forget that we're best friends too? You're not just my guardian. Don't forget that I can be here for you just like you're here for me. This relationship goes both ways."

I nodded in her arms and held her hand. It brought me so much comfort, I couldn't even explain it. A brief memory of us holding hands as little kids as we walked away from a boy who pushed her down flashed through my mind.

"Rose," she started again, "What's truly stopping you from being with Adrian? And don't lie. I know you don't truly care what anyone else thinks. That's not you, so what is it? Is there someone else? Was I right?"

My eyes flashed to Dimitri who was staring at the two of us. He quickly looked away, and pretended to be reading his book. A western, I assumed.

"Rose?" Lissa tried when I didn't answer. I had been distracted.

Was she right? Was I subconsciously stopping myself from being with Adrian because I liked someone else? When she asked the question, Dimitri was the first thing that came to mind and my eyes and gone to him. Was that it?

Did I like him more than I thought?

I looked at Lissa, whose eyes and drifted over to Dimitri as well.

I sighed and leaned against her shoulder. "Maybe. I have no idea. I'm so confused. I don't know what I want."

_Story of my life._

* * *

**_A/N:_ **Wow. So, I thought it was enough of Rose and Adrian stepping around broken glass. I decided to finally let it all come out about how they felt, so things are moving forward. What do you think is going to happen from here? And more importantly, did you like this chapter? I really hope so :) Thanks so much for reading.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **I worked super hard on this chapter and I'm excited with the way it turned out. I'm really liking what direction the story is heading in. I hope you feel the same! :) Please don't forget to review. It gives me reassurance. Thanks so much for all the responses so far.

**Chapter Seven: Recovery**

After landing at a private airstrip, we drove off in the usual black SUVs. The moment we landed, Lissa turned on her phone to some news. Apparently her business meeting was being postponed till the next day.

Her meeting was going to be with a couple other Moroi who had big ties in the Moroi world. While the majority of them lived in California, a few were also travelling from other areas of the nation. We had learned that a couple of their flights had been delayed due to bad weather as well. We were luckier than them apparently, but that also meant that we were going to stay longer.

First stop after getting that news was a hotel. We hadn't planned on staying in one originally, but now we would have to.

"Are you alright?" I asked Lissa and grasped her hand to comfort her.

I knew staying longer was probably putting even more stress on her. She had a lot of duties she had to attend to back at Court and she hadn't planned to stay here more than day. Now that she was pregnant, I had to keep an extra close eye on her and the darkness. Stress probably wasn't good for the baby - no matter how far along she was.

She squeezed my hand in response and whispered, "I'm fine. How about you?"

I sighed and shifted my eyes from her questioning gaze. After initially breaking down on the plane because of Adrian, I had fallen asleep. Therefore, I didn't have a lot of time to really let myself take things in. When I had woken up, it was because we had landed and my mind had been occupied with other things since then. I didn't want to think about things yet, because I knew it would make me feel worse than I already did.

Occupying my thoughts was the best route for the time being.

"I'm about as well as I can be considering the circumstances," I paused, "but let's not think about that right now. We've got to get you in a hotel safely, and figure out where to go from there."

Lissa let my hand go and folded hers to rest on her lap. She smiled sadly at me and then returned to texting someone - Christian I assumed. Very quietly, I had her mumble, "Always so concerned about everyone but yourself, Rose..."

The ride was rather boring after that.

* * *

Soon enough we pulled into a parking lot and the driver of the car turned around to let us know we were here.

I eyed the other guardians in the car and nodded at them to let them know we were going to take normal precautions. They exited the vehicle first to check things out. When they gave us the ok, I exited the vehicle first and Lissa came right after me.

We waited momentarily for the others to join us. A car had followed behind us that carried Dimitri, Ivan and Tasha, plus a few court guardians to accompany them.

We all made our way into the lobby of the mostly Moroi inhabited hotel. One of my guardians booked us rooms on the highest floor and we all headed up there right away. The journey up to the room was unbelievably quiet. If Lissa wasn't so preoccupied with her phone, she probably would've talked to Tasha, but instead we all stayed quiet.

I was partially thankful for that. I knew it would be a little awkward after what had happened back in Pennsylvania.

I decided to break the silence to ask Guardian South about the rooms he had booked. "Are the rooms next to each other?"

His eyes lifted from the floor and he nodded swiftly, handing them over. He gave me three keys. I raised an eyebrow. He saw my curiosity and answered the questions in the eyes.

"One for you and the Queen, One for Guardian Belikov and his charge, and then Tasha. Right? Is that alright? I assumed..."

"That's perfectly fine," Tasha answered, smiling curtly to him.

"You didn't want to share a room with -" I started, but she shook her head no. "How about Lissa and I? You don't have to stay alone."

"She said she was fine with it." Dimitri said, in a sharp tone. I looked at him, surprised. His tone was a little harsher than anyone expected.

Tasha shot him a look and then smiled at me. "I can take care of myself. I'm not a little girl, Rose."

Nodding, I let my eyes drift over Dimitri as he stared at the floor and then I kept to myself.

So much for trying to ease the tension.

* * *

An hour later, Lissa finally stopped with her phone and hooked it up to a charger on the bedside table.

I sat on a bed besides hers and pulled my eyes away from the TV to look at her as she stared at me openly. A show about sharks was on but I wasn't really paying attention. My mind was elsewhere.

"I'm getting bored," Lissa commented, picking up a little booklet that gave information about the hotel. She read over the booklet and then closed it.

Despite everything, I laughed. "Christian fall asleep or something? You were pretty occupied a moment ago."

She blushed and eyed the guardians standing in the front room next to us. It was a little sitting area that was right in front of the door to the suite. This hotel was very nice and had a room for basically everything. A kitchen, a bedroom, a sitting room. I was surprised the building could even have three suites on one floor.

Actually, make that four. I almost forgot that the guardians were all staying in one room on this floor as well.

Lissa was hesitant to continue. I knew she was still getting used to being watched like a hawk twenty four seven.

Standing up, I gave the guardians a small nod and then closed the door that separated the two rooms. They might've still been able to still hear us, but at least it gave the illusion of privacy.

Almost immediately Lissa started talking again. "Christian had to go." She looked at me for a second and then kept going. "He said Adrian just got there."

"Oh..." I trailed off.

So Adrian was going to talk to Christian about all that happened probably. I was a little annoyed at that. Christian wasn't exactly the person I trusted with my personal life. Sure, he was with Lissa and they were serious and we had grown to have an okay relationship, but he loved to hold things over my head a lot. Adrian knew that.

I sighed. Well, at least Adrian wasn't off burying himself in alcohol and cigarettes like he used to, or another woman. Or, he could be. I had no idea.

Just the thought of him with someone else made me angry.

"Well, at least he's not off with some other woman," I said before I could control myself.

"Rose, you know he's not like that anymore. Give him a little more credit." She said. She picked up the booklet, as if it would make things better and started flipping through it again.

"How do you know? He's probably given up all hope with me now. I've made it very easy for him to slip back into an old habit."

Lissa was quiet and then she changed the subject.

She threw the booklet over at me, and said, "Look, they have a cafe area on the roof. Get up. We're going so you feel better. I don't like seeing you like this." She stood and pulled on my arm for a moment, but I stayed put. She huffed and then used the hotel phone to call the others and invite them.

"I'm only going to look after you," I assured her and then stood. We walked in the sitting room to let the guardians know we were leaving the room and they followed us.

Since we were on the top floor, we walked to the end of the hallway and were met with a stairway that led to the roof. We stayed there to wait for the others. The group of guardians arrived first, all ten of them and headed up first. I could only imagine how crowded it'll be up there after we arrive.

Tasha arrived next in a flowy navy dress a little while later with her hair in a comfortable updo. She looked great. Suddenly, I wondered if I should've changed out of my guardian clothes - black slacks and a white button up. But then Dimitri appeared a moment later with Ivan in the same thing, and I felt better. I was working. This wasn't a night off, I reminded myself.

"I hope you're all hungry," Lissa said and we all headed up.

"Wow," Ivan said when we all reached the roof. That had pretty much summed up what I was thinking as well. The place was full of people, Moroi and dhampir alike. I shouldn't have been surprised. The hotel was a big place and was pretty popular among our community, but my goodness. And no humans in sight, thank goodness.

This place was only occupied by our people. I had heard the guy at the front desk saying they kept all rooms marked as booked so humans wouldn't try to stay here. You had to call ahead or show up to prove you were one of us in order to stay.

I had to admit that I felt so much more comfortable here knowing that.

Not only was the roof a huge cafe, but it was more like a little community. There was the cafe that Lissa mentioned off in one corner, a pool in the other and just in front of us was a dance floor that people seemed to take a liking too. It was a lively environment that I would've been really excited about had I been a teenager again - but given all that had happened today, I wasn't so sure I was up for it.

Suddenly, the strategist meetings we had daily sounded like fun.

"I'm not so sure I'm hungry anymore," Ivan said, looking over a couple woman who gawked at him. A smirk raised to his lips and Tasha smacked him.

"Behave!" She said and tugged him away to a little bar area. Dimitri followed and the guardians who had stuck closely to us positioned themselves in areas where other guardians had stood.

"So much for having dinner," I said, chuckling a little at the look on Lissa's face. "If you're really that hungry, I'll eat with you, Lissa."

"No, it's okay." She smiled. "To be honest, I'm not that hungry either. This was to make you feel better."

I looked at her knowingly. "Come on. I can tell when you're lying. Bond, remember? Let's get some appetizers and a table."

"Alright."

* * *

Half an hour later, I was stuffing my face with hot wings and mini burgers. This cafe seriously had everything. You could get something gourmet or something like what I was eating.

"You know," I said to Lissa who was eating celery of all things, "I think I'm actually feeling better."

She smiled and looked at one of my mini burgers. I put it on her plate, and she smiled and started eating it. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. Thank me later when we're dancing away all this food."

"Really? You want to dance?" Lissa asked happily as she chewed. I nodded.

"I figured as long as you're in my sight, then I'm doing my job. Besides, I can't let this Adrian thing get me down. It'll all work out once I get home. We just have to talk it over."

"That's what I like to hear," she said and took a sip of her water. She stood and told the waitress to bill the room. The waitress did a double take at Lissa once she realized who she was and bowed.

"Of course, your Majesty. It's an honor," she said before almost skipping away. We both smiled. Why couldn't more people be like this girl? Happy that Lissa was Queen, instead of going against her because of her age.

"She was nice," I said and Lissa grabbed my hand and whisked me away toward the dance floor.

She pulled deep into the crowd of people who gyrated their bodies off in different directions. Once we were in the middle of the pack of people, Lissa took a hold of both my hands and started moving along to the music. I laughed at the happy look on her face and felt an immense amount of nostalgia.

It was nice to have a night without Christian or any distractions. She spent most her time busy or with Christian lately, not that I blamed her, so this was an opportunity I was going to take for granted.

Someone grabbed my shoulder from behind and I noticed Tasha was there with Ivan. Again I wondered if they were together.

"Hey!" she exclaimed excitedly and took in all the people around. "This is fun, huh?"

We nodded.

"Who knew this was going on a floor above us, right?" she said and then wrapped her arms around Ivan to dance with him.

I smiled and started unbuttoning my shirt. Lissa's eyes widened and so did a Moroi's that was dancing beside us. His eyes never left me and I smirked when they both caught sight of the under shirt I had on underneath.

"Oh my God, Rose," Lissa laughed and led me out of the crowd for a moment. I put the shirt on the back of a chair that one of our guardians was sitting in and looked at her. She looked immensely happy. "I almost thought you were stripping down to a bra!"

"And give all that guy a heart attack?" A joked and then she nudged me in the side and we went back to the dance floor.

I felt a lot better without the long sleeve shirt on. It was getting hot in the crowd of people, so I needed a reprieve.

"Look at_ you_, Rose," Ivan said once we got back into the crowd and started dancing again. Admittedly, I was getting more into it. This was a song I really like, and it's not like we were in any danger. The roof was _crowded_ with guardians and so was the hotel. It was dark outside now, but I knew the place was secure enough. For once, I relaxed and put my trust in the skilled royal guard. "You look really good," Ivan said and Tasha pushed him again.

He laughed and then let Tasha go to put his hands on my hips. I looked at Tasha to make sure she knew I wasn't stealing him away or anything, but she just smiled at me and started dancing with Lissa now that I was occupied.

"Where's that guardian of yours?" I asked Ivan, leaning my head back to talk in his ear so he could hear me.

He gave me a look. "You know him. He's off sitting alone somewhere. This isn't exactly his crowd."

"I would've never guessed," I said sarcastically and kept dancing after he laughed.

Eventually, Ivan went back to Tasha after kissing my cheek in a friendly gesture and thanking me for the dance. The Moroi guy from earlier came back and started dancing near us again. He continued to stare at me, but that was nothing new, so I kept on dancing with Lissa, paying him no attention.

Hands grasped my waist and I stopped, pushing them away. I turned around to find the guy looking at me up and down appreciatively.

_Um, no_. I danced with Ivan, but I knew him and he was a friend. This guy, I had no idea who he was and I wasn't about to let him touch me and rub himself up against me. No thank you. I wasn't single, I told myself, even though I wasn't exactly in a relationship. Adrian had just confessed his love for me and was waiting for me back at home.

This guy wasn't going to touch me.

"No thank you," I said so he could hear me and then I turned around. Lissa looked at me uneasily and then looked past me. Once again, I felt hands at my hips. It was him again. This time, I shoved him away and told him to back off.

Ivan and Tasha had stopped dancing at this point and were standing beside us to see what was going on. I had pushed the guy back so far that he had bumped into a few other people. A crowd around us stopped, wondering what was happening.

I glared at the guy, just asking for him to touch me again and see what happens.

Lissa seemed to notice I was getting worked up and tugged on my arm to pull me away. I let her and we sat down in a corner that was surprisingly empty. It was dark outside, but the place was in full swing because of our schedule. Ivan and Tasha had followed us out of the crowd to see if everything was okay.

Lissa placed a hand on my arm and I felt magic flowing through her to soothe me. I hadn't realized it, but I was breathing heavily. At her touch, I calmed down almost immediately.

"The darkness?" Lissa questioned, bringing curious looks on Tasha and Ivan's faces. I nodded and then took a drink off of a waitress's tray and took a sip. I tasted the alcohol immediately, but my mouth was dry and I needed something to sip on.

Dimitri had slipped up behind us with a glass of water.

"Here," he gave it to me and I set the other glass down.

"Thanks." Apparently, he had watched the whole thing play out from his spot.

I downed the water and waved everyone off to tell them I was fine.

"You guys keep dancing. I just need a minute. That idiot just pissed me off."

"Are you sure?" Lissa asked, and I waved her away. I looked across the room at a guardian whose eyes never left Lissa. He caught my eye momentarily and I motioned for him to keep a close eye on her and he nodded, standing up to enter the dance crowd.

Dimitri pulled up a seat next to mine and studied me carefully.

"You good?"

I looked at him, "How many times have you asked me that today?" My voice sounded clipped and worn out.

His lips formed a thin line and he stood up to leave.

"Wait," I said, stopping him in his tracks. "I'm sorry. Today's just not one of my best."

"It's understandable," he said but didn't sit back down. He looked around at all the guardians and then nodded to himself before sticking his hand out to me.

I eyed it cautiously, and then met his eyes.

"Come on," was all he said.

"Where?"

"Just trust me."

I grabbed his hand.

* * *

**A/N: **P.S. I've already written the next chapter and I'm starting the next one, so review review review for a fast update! I'm super excited for you to keep reading. I really love writing for this story. :)

Thoughts?


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **I'm really proud of this chapter, so I hope you like it! Tell me what you think about Rose and Dimitri's interaction. I really want to know. As I promised, here a quick update!

**Chapter Eight: A Mistake?**

"Sit down," Dimitri said, pulling two chairs together. We were in his room that he shared with Ivan. Well, not_ in_ his room. We were actually out on the balcony.

We could faintly hear the noise from one level up, but it was a lot less overbearing now that we were some distance away.

"What about -" I started looking up toward to roof.

Dimitri hushed me and sat down, patting the seat beside him. "They'll be fine. The place is crawling with guardians." I was still hesitant. "Come on. Sit."

I glared at him ordering me around, but alas, I sat down. "I'm sitting because I want to. Not because you told me to. Are we clear?"

He chuckled and put his hands behind his neck and looked up at the sky. He had a wistful look on his face, like he was his missing something. "You remind me of my younger sister, Viktoria." He shared, still looking up at the sky.

You couldn't really see any stars, save for a few that shined brightly, because of the many street and building lights. "Oh yeah?"

He nodded and smiled just barely. "I haven't seen her, or my family, in a long time. She could've matured for all I know, but I have a feeling she's still the same."

"You miss them." I said, watching him curiously. He blinked once and then dropped his arms down to look at me. I couldn't make out what he was thinking, but he seemed confused for a second.

"I do," Dimitri admitted. "How you were able to figure that out, I have no idea." He said, tearing his eyes away from me to stare at a plane that was just landing in the distance.

My mind clicked. "Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying I'm not mature?"

His face softened and he smiled at my offended look. "I said you remind me of her. You're actually a lot more mature than she is. But," he added, "sometimes you are a little wild."

My brows raised at the way he described me. "Wild?"

"Okay, that wasn't the best word to use. Just forget about it." Oh no. I wasn't about to forget that he was comparing me to his immature little sister. He had told me before that he respected me and now he was insulting me.

"Forget you just insulted me? I don't think so."

"It came out wrong, Roza. I'm sorry if I insulted you. It wasn't intentional."

"Roza?" I asked curiously at the name he had called me. Was it just his deep accent I had heard?

Dimitri stood and walked over to to edge of the balcony and rested his elbows on the railing. He sighed to himself and said, "Roza is your name in Russian. It just slipped out."

"Oh." Things were quiet for a minute or so except for the background noise of the crowd upstairs. Eventually, I stood up as well and joined him at the railing. A breeze blew my hair all around and I pushed it aside to find Dimitri staring at me. There was this look he always gave me. I couldn't describe it, but it made me wonder what was going on in that mind of his.

"Listen," I started, "I'm sorry for getting angry. It's just -" I stopped myself and sighed. I didn't need to bother Dimitri with myself. He brought me here to let me relax, not to just get wound up again.

"Go on," he encouraged, a thoughtful look in his eyes. He always made me feel at peace, strangely.

"No, it's okay."

"You can talk to me if it will make you feel better. I'm here to listen."

The urging look on his face made me cave. "I feel so confused with everything." I said at first, earning a confused look. I elaborated, "Well, okay, not everything. That was a little dramatic. I'll start with Adrian."

Dimitri's eyes left me at the mention of Adrian and he looked out to the city in front of us to give me space, I assumed. It was less pressuring now that he was looking elsewhere. His eyes on me always made me feel nervous and a weird tingling would come to my stomach. I looked at the people walking down the streets below us and continued.

"We've been..." I stopped and looked at him, not sure if I should continue. This was very private and I didn't know if he wanted to hear it.

He noticed my silence and said, "Sleeping together?"

I looked down immediately. I was so embarrassed that he had heard the conversation between my mother and I. Sure, people around court knew this, but hearing it come from his mouth was humiliating.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. I won't judge you. Just talk. It will help you."

"Okay... Yes. We've been sleeping together for months now. We agreed at the beginning that it was just going to be a weekend things. A friends with benefits type thing." I eyed him at that, but he gave no reaction. He just kept his eyes on the horizon. "He was always the type of guy who slept around, and I didn't have time for anything serious, so we both thought it was a good idea."

"When we first met, he wasn't shy at all in expressing what he wanted from me. I didn't mind it either. It was nice to get attention, even if it was from him. He practically hit on everyone." I laughed spitefully at myself. "I should've stayed away from him. He drank alcohol and smoked cigarettes every single day, but we became friends regardless, and it led to our agreement."

"A couple months of that and it was fine... Up until recently, we didn't have any problems with just sticking to being friends. Things just started changing. It was different. He stopped with the constant drinking and smoking for me and I started to develop feelings for him. I was so confused though, because I knew the type of person he was before so I didn't think he'd want a relationship, so I convinced myself that I _couldn't_ have a relationship with him. I told myself that we couldn't be together because people would judge us, but it was truly because I thought he didn't want that."

"But he does?" Dimitri asked, finally looking at me and speaking up. He seemed to hang on my answer, though he already knew what it was. He had been there in the plane when Adrian had said he loved me.

"Apparently so..." I said wistfully and shifted onto my other foot.

"You sound sad." He noted. "I thought you said you wanted to be with him?"

I sighed for what felt like the billionth time. I pursed my lips. "I did say that, and I do, but... I don't. That's what's bothering me. Something is holding me back, but I don't know what."

His eyes searched mine. "Is there someone else?"

I laughed at the irony of this. "Lissa asked me the same thing." He said nothing. "Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just nervous. Maybe I really do care about what people think more than I say."

"Or maybe," offered Dimitri, "you're scared."

I stopped and considered what he said. "Maybe you're right."

"That's a lot of 'maybes'," Dimitri observed jokingly and we both laughed. The mood lightened.

Another breeze came by and I shivered involuntarily. Dimitri immediately stepped inside the hotel room really quick and brought out his infamous duster. He slipped it on my shoulder, hushing any protests I had with a shake of the head.

We basked in the fresh air and seemed to be comfortable in each other's company. I started to think about what Lissa had asked me. Was Dimitri the true reason for my restriction? Had I started liking him subconsciously? Did I want something to happen between us?

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't attracted to him. He intrigued me the day I had met him, and though we had only known each other for a small amount of time, I really liked talking to him. After today, I could say that I knew more about him. I seemed to learn more about him every time we spoke. He was caring, and seemed to hold me with high regard though he hardly knew me.

Maybe he was only so nice with me because I reminded him of his sister, I thought annoyingly.

_There goes another 'maybe'._

Pulling out of my thoughts, I said, "You're being very nice to me."

"Hmm?" Dimitri sounded, turning to me. His focus was elsewhere and he hadn't heard me.

"You're being so nice to me and I hardly know you."

"Do you always expect the worst from people you don't know well?"

"No..." I started but then stopped myself. "Yes."

Dimitri laughed outright and the sight sure was something to behold. "Oh, Roza," he said and a look of contentment covered his face. He leaned in to me, a small on his lips. "Have a little faith," his voice dropped lower and I leaned in closer to be sure I'd hear him, "people might surprise you."

I didn't know what it was about this moment that did it for me, but our closeness was having an effect on me and he was so kind and unlike anyone I'd met. I was so caught up that before I knew it, my hand was resting on Dimitri's cheek and my lips were just caressing his.

To my surprise, he didn't pull away. Instead, he leaned into me and put his hand over mine.

But this wasn't supposed to happen. Not when I had just gotten into an argument with Adrian and not when I had just confessed everything about Adrian and I to Dimitri.

Instantly, I pulled back and couldn't look him in the eyes. It was a mistake. It had to be.

"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head. I bit my lip, feeling so stupid for the moment of impulse. "I'm just so confused and vulnerable and you were being nice and - and I - Oh God..." I put my hands in my head, embarrassed beyond belief. I lifted my head. "I'm _so __so _sorry Dimitri."

He shook his head soundlessly and placed his hands on my shoulders to calm me. I couldn't not cry in front of him. Not again. I had already let out a dam of tears earlier today on the plane. I wasn't going to let that happen again!

"It's okay, Rose."

"No, it's not. I'm so sorry. Oh my God. How am I going to face Adrian? He'll never want to see me again," I cried, and buried my head back into my hands.

Dimitri offered some insight. "If he loves you like he says, he'll understand."

"You think?" I asked, lifting my head once again.

He nodded and pulled me up from my chair to lead me inside. He was being very understanding and I felt even worse. We had just kissed. He was saying nothing about how he felt about it, and I had a feeling it was to make me feel better.

"Are you going to call it a night?" I asked, wondering why he had brought me inside.

He shook his head. "We've got to join our Moroi."

Of course. It had completely slipped my mind. "You go on ahead," I told him and slipped into the bathroom. "I'm just going to take a minute."

Stepping into the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I hadn't shed any tears, but my hair was a withered mess because of the wind and my eyes did look red. There was also a crazed look in my eyes that only came around every once in a while. It was usually when I had taken a lot of darkness away from Lissa.

But she had been okay when I left. I didn't understand it. Was I capable of looking this way at my own accord?

I turned the faucet on and washed my face and patted down my hair to fix it. Afterward, I felt something at the back of my mind. It was the familiar pull of the bond. I was strong enough now to be able to prevent myself from being pulled into Lissa's mind unexpectedly, but I still felt a little tug. That was what I had just felt.

_Oh_ _no_. Maybe I had taken darkness from her absentmindedly. I had to get upstairs and now. Sometimes was wrong.

* * *

By the time I got to the roof, things seemed to be handled. But it was evident that something had happened.

Lissa was surrounded by Tasha, Ivan, now Dimitri, and the other guardians of hers. I rushed up to her checking her over with my eyes for any injuries. She was glaring off in another direction. I looked to another area of the roof and the Moroi guy who had been touchy feely with me was being restrained by two of the royal guardians.

"What happened?" I asked.

Lissa's attention came to me. "Where have you been?"

Dimitri and I caught eyes for a moment and he answered her so she wouldn't get as mad as she seemed she was going to. "She was with me. We were talking downstairs." Yes,_ talking_.

Lissa looked between the two of us in her curious way and then she rolled her eyes - which was out of character, so I knew she was either mad or frustrated. "Well, your idiot _guy_ over there thought it was okay to touch me too." She explained, her eyes burning with fury. I knew where that crazed look had come from.

"What?" I asked, angrily.

"Yes, and I rejected him like you did, but he did not listen. That's where he stepped in," she said gesturing to Guardian Sawyer. He was the one I left in charge of watching her. Good job to him for keeping her away from the hands of the pervert. "Then, the guy went nuts and started spewing off stuff at me, about how I shouldn't be Queen and then he said some rude things about you."

"That asshole," I said, kneeling in front of her. Another guardian handed me my shirt that I had left on the chair and I slipped it on. "When I get my hands on him-"

"The other guardians handled it Rose. He's going to be taken into a court funded jail here for questioning. He was drunk, and by the looks of it, could have been under the influence of some _other_ things as well. " She smiled at me and seemed to have pushed the darkness away on her own. I was proud of that. Just to think that she could manage to push it away if I was ever unable to, it made me proud.

"So, everything is good?"

"I assure you, Guardian Hathaway, everything is in top shape," Guardian Sawyer said, and held his hand out as if to say, 'let's go'. Lissa stood and we all made our way back to our rooms.

Lissa said goodnight to Tasha and Ivan while Dimitri and I stood a little ways away from them.

Without looking at Dimitri, I said, "Thank you for being understanding about earlier, Guardian Belikov."

He didn't look at me either, but said, "It's no problem, Guardian Hathaway. Hopefully you will have an easier time making a decision now."

I smiled, and nodded. "Goodnight."

"Same to you."

I said a quick goodnight to Ivan and Tasha as well and we all went into our rooms

* * *

"I'm sorry for not being there to protect you, Liss."

Lissa, who was facing the wall, turned over so she could see me. It was dark in the room except for the moonlight which shone through the glass balcony doors.

"It's okay. I'm over it. Besides, the other guardian took care of me. You've taught them well," she joked, and yawned.

I yawned in a chain effect reaction and confessed, "I don't like the idea of me not being there when you're in danger. I didn't even tell you I was leaving. I can't say I'm sorry enough for that."

"You can't be there _all_ the time, Rose. The others guardian are fully capable of taking care of me. They earned their positions for a reason. Let them use their abilities every once in a while, eh?" She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I know, but-"

"Hush," she ordered and got up from her bed. I watched as she shuffled over to lay on my bed beside me. Smiling, she got under the covers and snuggled up beside me. I laughed at how she was acting and turned around to face her. "Now, tell me what happened when you were gone."

I groaned. "Of course you suspect something happened."

"Well, am I right? You know I love it when I'm right."

I laughed. This was one of the few qualities Lissa possessed that actually bugged Christian. He loved being right... but then so did she. I had a feeling she loved it so much because she got to tease Christian about it.

"We talked about Adrian."

"You did?" she asked her body practically buzzing with excitement.

"Yes, we did."

"Did you tell him everything?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"And then what?"

I took a deep breath and just said it, "I kissed him."

"What?!" she yelled, and sat up in bed.

The door to the sitting room opened at one of the guardians stationed in there turned on the light ready for anything. Lissa smiled sheepishly as his eyes widened at the sight of us both in the same bed. I laughed as Lissa waved him away whilst saying there was no threats here.

"You need to calm down."

"You kissed Dimitri! How am I supposed to not freak out! What about Adrian? Are you going to turn him down?"

"Of course not. I'm going to see him once we land."

"Wait. I'm confused." she expressed with a flustered look in her eyes.

I explained. "It was just a kiss, Lissa. We talked it through and Dimitri understands that it wasn't anything. It was a moment of weakness."

"So you don't have feelings for Dimitri, then?"

"I don't know. Maybe, but I'm not going to throw Adrian away over it. I care about him too much. Which is why he deserves the truth. I'm going to tell him Dimitri and I kissed, but that it was a mistake. Dimitri said that if he really does love me, he'll understand, and I agree with that."

"Good for you, Rose." Lissa said hugging me tightly for a second or two. "Now, let's sleep. Today was a long day, and I'm ready to get that meeting tomorrow over with."

"What time is the meeting at, anyway?"

"I don't even know, but they said to be ready at any time in the early morning, so I'm expecting in a couple hours really. They're going to call thirty minutes ahead so we know when."

"Oh God..." I trailed off. I had slept for a little while earlier today on the plane, but I already knew I'd be exhausted tomorrow.

"Look on the bright side," she mumbled sleepily as she started dozing off, "the sooner the meeting is over, the sooner we can get back home. I'll be back with my baby's daddy," we laughed, "and you'll be back with your crazy spirit guy."

"True," I said, before dozing off along with her.

* * *

**A/N:**Which guy are you rooting for? Adrian or Dimitri? I love them both, personally, but I know who she's going to end up with. It will all become clear in the next few chapters. Thoughts?


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you guys are liking the story. Here's another chapter to tide you over!

**Chapter Nine: Something's Off**

"How did it go?" I asked my friends as they filtered out of the meeting room.

Lissa had a tired look on her face like she was worn out, while Tasha and Ivan looked let down.

Tasha sighed and put her head on Ivan's shoulder. He put his arm around her and squeezed comfortingly before letting go.

"Not as well as we hoped," he explained to Dimitri and I who were waiting outside the private meeting room for them. A few other guardians had to wait with us as well, so it wasn't as awkward as it could have been had it only been the two of us. Plus, we were technically on duty, so we hadn't felt obligated to make conversation.

"The others turned you guys down?" I asked, referring to the whole reason Ivan and Tasha had joined along. They were going to pitch the idea of Moroi defense classes to the others. The system of our monarchy had changed as of recently. Normally, no one questioned the Queen, but to appease many of the people who were unsure of Lissa because of her age, they had developed a system similar to the human government's checks and balances.

So, unfortunately, Lissa had to get the majority vote in order to pass anything. I thought it was unfair, but Lissa said it was a small price to pay. She had been very positive will all these changes that she had to deal with. It was surprising, but that was Lissa. She was an optimist, no matter what.

"Yes, they did," Lissa shared and we all started walking out of the building. The rest of her guardians made a formation in order to get her safely into the car. The others slipped into the SUV behind ours.

When we were buckled in, I asked, "So what else happened? I know the defense classes was a last minute thing, so you were discussing other things too, right?"

Lissa flipped open her phone and started dialing Christian. While she held the phone up to her ear, she looked at me and answered, "I fought them for a while on the dhampir law. The one where they graduate at sixteen. Tatiana had apparently passed it to appease Moroi who wanted them to graduate younger, but I was able to convince them to take that away." She turned away from my look of victory and focused back on her phone. "Hello? Christian?"

Smiling at the happiness that talking to Christian brought to her face, I took my own phone out and decided to put it to good use. Since we were done with the meeting, our next stop was the runway to fly back home. Once we landed, the first thing on my agenda was to see Adrian. I needed to make things right with him.

_I'll be back in a couple hours. I really want to see you once I land. Text me back and we can set something up? - R._

I reread my message a couple times before hitting send. Hopefully Adrian would get back to me and would want to see me.

Lissa stayed on the phone with Christian the whole drive to the runway, so the ride was pretty quiet.

When we got on the plane, Tasha still looked disappointed with the outcome of their pitch, so I said, "Hey, don't let it get to you. We're all devoted to making this happen. We can't give up." She smiled happily at my support and her mood seemed to lift.

"Thanks, Rose."

"Don't mention it."

* * *

Once I got settled in my seat on the plane, I took my phone out of my pocket to see that I still had no reply from Adrian.

Sighing, I put it back into my pocket after turning it off. It had been a good half an hour since I had texted him, and I knew he usually had his phone with him at all times. The fact that he wasn't answering could mean a couple things. Either he was angry with me and ignoring me, or he was still passed out from drinking alcohol.

Whichever one it was, it wasn't good. I didn't like either option. Not one bit. I'd like to think he was strong enough to stay away from drinking too much even though he was under emotional distress, but I didn't want to believe it was because he was ignoring me. If that was the case, then I didn't know how I'd handle the talk we were going to have in a couple hours.

If he even wanted to see me.

_If he loves me, he'll understand_, I told myself just as another voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Thank you," Dimitri said, sitting down beside me. The plane had just turned onto the runway and was speeding up, about to take off, so he had to talk a little loudly.

"For what?" I asked, shouting just a bit. While we were talking loudly, we still made sure no one else could hear us.

"Giving Natasha encouragement. She was feeling really down before. It was nice for her to hear that you supported her."

"You really care for her, huh?"

"I've known her my whole life. She's -" he started, but then stopped abruptly.

His hand gripped the arm rest as the plane lifted. I took a moment to yawn forcefully to pop my ears. The runway here was shorter than most, so the plane seemed to move almost vertically when we lifted, instead of sloping upward. Dimitri didn't continue, but instead swallowed deeply and shut his eyes. I put my hand on his arm.

"Are you okay?"

He nodded, but didn't relax until we were moving smoothly in the air - which was a good few minutes later.

"Are you scared of flying?" I asked almost disbelievingly when his eyes reopened. He looked at me embarrassed and shifted his gaze. "Hey, it's okay." I placed my hand on his, which still clenched the armrest. He seemed to have relaxed a lot more since our initial departure, but he still held it in a death grip. "I was afraid too. Probably not for the same reason as you, but I was."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I don't know if you've heard, but Lissa and I have a bond." He nodded to confirm he knew this. "She brought me back from the dead a few years ago and since then I've had a connection to the other world - the land of the dead, basically. Whenever I go outside the wards, I can see spirits if I focus on it. The first time it happened, I had no control over it. I basically went crazy, and fainted."

"What does this have to do with flying?" His hand softened over the grip, his full attention on me now. His breaths came out deeply.

"Well, you can't exactly make wards mobile. When I fly, it opens me up to the other world."

"How do you control it?" he asked curiously.

I reached down and pulled something out of my bag. "With this."

"Jewelry?"

"They're all silver," I explained, shaking the contents of the plastic bag. "They sort of work like stakes. Lissa put healing powers into them and as long as I'm wearing something," I said, pulling at the collar of my shirt to show him the necklace I was wearing, "then I'm okay. I'm sure they'd work for you too, if you'd like to wear one?"

He laughed and turned his hand upward so his palm was facing mine. My eyes drifted down to our hands for a moment, before forcing back into his face. He looked sincerely at me. "Thank you, Roza, but I think I'd rather not."

His hand pulled away to rest in his lap and he looked at the seat ahead of him.

I fished through the bag for something that didn't look too feminine. "Here," I said, handing over a chain link bracelet. "Just put it on. No one will see it under your duster. Trust me, it'll help."

He eyed the piece of jewelry for a long moment and then took it. I helped clasp it over his wrist and then pulled his sleeve over it to hide it.

"Wow, what is that?" he asked, feeling the immediate effects of the magic.

"That is spirit. Incredible isn't it?"

He nodded and smiled at me. "I appreciate it."

"Well, you really helped me last night. It was the least I could do," I explained, smiling sheepishly.

Things were quiet after that and my mind wandered. I thought about Adrian and what he must've been doing at the moment. It was going to be evening when we got to Pennsylvania because of the time difference, so he had to have read my message by now. Even if he'd been passed out because of the alcohol, he _had_ to have checked his phone at least once now.

I just had to wait till we landed to see if I had a reply.

Anxiety got the best of me, and I started to stare around the plane to focus on something else. My eyes drifted to Tasha, who was sleeping on the shoulder of Ivan. He was flipping through a magazine and took one moment to stare admiringly down at Tasha on his shoulder. I smiled at the look on his face and nudged Dimitri in the side.

I hadn't wanted to ask a while back, but I needed to know now.

He looked at me, seeming to be a lot calmer now.

I lowered my voice and leaned in. "I hate to ask, but what's going on between the two of them?" I looked at Ivan and Tasha to clarify.

Dimitri's brow furrowed and he seemed to think for a minute. I wondered if I had overstepped my boundaries, but then he spoke, "They're not together."

"Really? Sure seems like it," I said, my surprise showing through my voice.

"They're just...friendly," he explained, searching for the right word.

"Friendly like friendly, or friendly like 'Adrian and I' friendly?" I laughed.

"Well, the three of us have been friends for as long as I can remember," he let out. Slowly, but surely, I was uncovering the mystery that was Dimitri Belikov. "I think they want to be more, it's just that they're hesitant about it. I don't think they want to ruin their friendship over a relationship."

"Sounds familiar."

"I bet," he said, facing me. He changed subjects. "I feel a lot better now. The bracelet really helped. Thank you."

"Told you it would," I said cockily, before leaning back in my seat. We still had some time ahead of us and I might as well get some sleep now that I've got time. I had a feeling I'd need to be wide awake for when I met up with my 'crazy spirit guy' as Lissa had put it.

* * *

As soon as the plane hit the ground, I was fishing through my bag for my phone. I turned it on after standing up and waited a few minutes as the others started packing up to see if I'd get a new message.

Nothing.

A look of disappointment must have crossed my face, because a hand fell on my shoulder comfortingly.

Lissa stood beside me, eyeing my phone curiously. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Adrian didn't get back to me. I sent him a message before we left." I sighed and put the phone in my pocket to grab my bag out of the overhead bin.

I noticed that everyone else had already filed out of the plane. Lissa's guardians waited on the steps that led to the concrete runway.

"Maybe he just forgot?" Lissa suggested, trying to lighten things up.

"Yet another 'maybe'..." I grumbled to myself as we walked over to the steps.

"Hey, Rose, look!"

Turning around, I looked at Lissa to see what had caught her attention and found that she was pointing off in front of us. My head turned and there was my crazy spirit guy waiting a few feet away with his hands in his pockets, looking as handsome as ever.

A smile burst out on my face and I took the steps two at a time. When I got to the bottom, he had come closer and was waiting with open arms. I dropped my small bag and wrapped my arms around his neck.

I closed my eyes, basking in the feel of his arms, and then reopened them to see Dimitri looking over his shoulder at us while he walked alongside Tasha and Ivan away from the runway. A strange look covered his face before he turned around. I didn't have time to think about that, though.

"Why didn't you text me back?" I asked Adrian, pulling away just a bit in his arms.

"I wanted to surprise you," he said, smirking. Something was off though. He didn't look as happy as his voice tried to convey. I was going to ask, but then he put a hand on my cheek and kissed me gently. He had hesitated before his lips met mine as if to ask if it was okay. I didn't move a muscle, letting him know he could continue on.

After all, he couldn't have been a hundred percent sure if I wanted to be with him. My text message hadn't clued him in on how I felt about us, but I had a feeling that my reaction to him being there was enough to convey my emotions.

Lissa stopped beside us with her guardians and said, "You have the rest of the day off, Rose."

This time, I didn't try to argue with her. I saw the look in her eyes and she was telling me that she knew I needed to talk to Adrian. She was giving me the whole day to do so, and I couldn't be more grateful.

"Thanks, boss," I told her, laughing, as we waved her off.

* * *

Our initial reunion had been great. The walk over to my place had been nothing but okay. While neither of us talked, we both seemed content with just being near each other.

But once we got inside, things got serious. We needed to talk things out. There was going to be no more shying away from this.

Words had been said, feelings were hurt, and mistakes had been made.

I left him on the couch in the living room area while I went into my bedroom quickly. I didn't bother shutting the door, because he had already seen me naked before. I wasn't shy around him any more. I set my bag down on the floor and started taking off my clothes. Fishing through my drawers, I found something more comfortable to wear.

I took my hair out of its rubber band and then went back to Adrian.

Sitting down next to him on the sofa, I took a deep breath and readied myself for the conversation ahead.

I felt it was only fair that I began, because I had been the one to leave it all messy.

"I'm sorry," was the only thing I said at first. Adrian looked at me questionably, and then opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry, too."

Despite everything, a laugh found its way out of my mouth. I took his hand in mine. "You have no reason to be sorry. You told me you loved me, and I just left you behind. I shouldn't have done that. I should've told you the truth from the beginning, right from the moment my feelings for you started to change."

Adrian shook his head. "I did the same thing! I'm at fault here too. I wasn't brave enough to tell you how I felt until I was afraid you were going to call things off. It was unfair for me to cause a scene right before you left, and in front of all those people."

"We both messed up," I admitted after hearing him out.

It was Adrian's turn to laugh. "I should've listened when they said these 'friends with benefits' things don't always end up how you think."

"Who's they?"

"I don't know," he shrugged playfully and laughed again.

I elbowed him in the side and then laid my head on his shoulder. "I love you, too," I finally said, almost too quiet for him to hear.

He froze and then grabbed my chin in his hand to angle it in a way so he could look me in the eyes.

"Did you just say what I think you did?" His mouth twitched like he was getting ready to smile.

"I don't know. What do you think I said?" I teased, prolonging his weird twitchy smile. It was actually really cute. He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"Rose," he groaned.

Moving from my spot, I lifted one leg over his body and straddled his waist. I leaned my forehead against his and then kissed his cheek. "Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Adrian. I'm sure I love you," I said, ignoring the little piece of doubt that I had in the back of my mind. He was what I wanted. I could be happy with him. He treated me well. He had grown as a person after we first got "together", and so had I. We had impacted each other in good ways. So why try to push him away?

His hands squeezed my hips, which were now clothed in cotton shorts instead of my stiff black slacks. A plain black v-neck was what I wore on top now. "Does this mean you want to try for more?"

"Yes, yes, yes," I said, finally kissing him. I lost myself in the feel of his lips on mine for a minute before the feeling took me back to the balcony with Dimitri.

Pulling back abruptly, I lifted myself from Adrian's lap and pulled my shorts down from the spot they had ridden up to.

I couldn't let things get carried away without telling him the truth first.

Adrian noticed the change in me. "What's wrong?"

"There's something I needed to tell you. I can't believe I almost forget," I said more to myself than him.

His brows furrowed as his expression turned a bit worried. "What is it?"

I swallowed and my mouth became incredibly dry. _How do I start?_ "Before I tell you, just promise me you'll try not to get angry."

He thought for a minute and then nodded. "I promise," he said quite reluctantly.

"Okay, well," I cleared my throat, "something happened while I was in California." Adrian didn't say anything so I kept going. "Obviously, we stayed longer than we expected, because some of the royal's flights were delayed." I was dragging things out. "Anyway, we stayed at a hotel for the night and went to a party of some sorts on the roof. There was a cafe, a dance floor. But what I'm trying to say is, Dimitri and I left the roof for a little while to talk in the privacy of one of our rooms. It didn't start out as anything wrong, he was just trying to lift my mood."

Adrian shook his head like he didn't know what I was saying.

"I ended up kissing him." He was silent. "It didn't mean anything, I swear. It was just a brush of the lips and I pulled away almost as soon as it began. It wasn't right. We both knew that. I'm so sorry, Adrian. I love you. It was a mistake," I explained, my conscious tugging at me as I said the last sentence. I didn't know why.

He still hadn't said anything, and it was killing me. He looked lost in thoughts, and for a moment, I thought I saw relief, but no that couldn't be right. I was just confusing myself.

To my surprise, the first thing he said was, "It's okay." My mouth dropped. "I forgive you."

"What?" I asked in shock. "You don't want to yell at me? Or be angry?"

"No," he said with a straight face. He was taking this a lot better than I had expected. "Do you want me to be angry at you?"

I shook my head. "No! Of course not. I just don't get how you're taking this so well."

It was almost funny how earlier I had kept telling myself that if he loved me he'd understand, because now that it was actually happening, I didn't want to believe it.

He shrugged as if to say 'no biggie'. "You said so yourself that it was a mistake. You knew it was wrong. People makes mistakes. I'm not going to let you go over one night."

His eyes showed that he was telling me what he truly believed.

I sighed in relief. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that. I felt so bad for kissing him."

"Don't worry about it anymore, then. I don't like the idea of you feeling bad."

I stopped. "You're sure you're okay about this? You're not going to go and kill Dimitri in the middle of the night are you?"

Adrian laughed, but something still seemed off. I got the same feeling I had earlier when we were on the runway and he didn't look as happy as he had tried to appear. It was an inkling of something that I couldn't describe.

"Of course not. I'm not _that _crazy."

I didn't laugh, because whatever was plaguing him was bothering me.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, sounding a bit nervous. I didn't know what to assume, so I'd have to go off what he would say.

"Yeah." He said, looking nonchalant. "Actually, no." He leaned over and pulled me back onto his lap, wrapping me up tightly. "Everything is wonderful."

Any questions I had were forgotten as his lips found their way onto mine.

* * *

**A/N: **Like I had said in the last chapter, the person Rose will end up with will become clear in the next _couple_ chapters. So don't expect this love triangle to be over with this chapter. Just hang in there and you'll see what happens. Is anyone wondering what's up with Adrian? He's acting funny...


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **Thank you guys so much for the reviews on the last chapter. I smile so much when I read them! I like know what you guys think. So, as a sign of my appreciation, here is the next chapter. I'll have you know it is a bit longer than most! Also, keep telling me what you think is going on with Adrian. I like knowing your guesses. I'm _never_ going to tell you if you're right or wrong, though! No spoilers here. :)

**Chapter Ten: The Good and Bad**

Waking up the next morning, I found it hard to pull myself out of bed.

It was another regular week day, so therefore, I'd have to go to one of my strategists meetings, and after that, I was on duty with Lissa. I wasn't complaining one bit about having to do my job, but I was dreading to have to leave Adrian.

Our night together had been spectacular.

Surprisingly, it was different from the many other times we'd been intimate.

It had been special, because for the first time, we had actually made love.

My sleeping hours were messed up because of the time change in California, so I woke up an hour before my alarm went off, which was very early. I went to move, but then realized something was holding me in place. In my sleepy haze, I remembered I was in bed with Adrian. It was his arms that were wrapped very tightly around my waist.

Sighing happily, I leaned even closer to him and smiled when his hold tightened. He hadn't woken up yet. He had done it in his sleep.

I basked in the closeness of our bare bodies and let my mind wander to the night before...

_"You're so beautiful," whispered Adrian, his lips dancing over my sensitive skin. This was torture, this was satisfaction. He had told me nearly ten times so far that I was beautiful, that I was the most wonderful sight he'd ever beheld. I had known Adrian for a long time now, so I knew that often times he would recite some odd sentences due to his spirit madness. More now that he had cut down on his vices, so I knew that what he kept saying to me might've been some of that._

_But, boy, did I love hearing it._

_"I've never seen a Rose as sweet..." he trailed off, letting his tongue draw a line from my collar bone to the curve of my breast. He hummed against my skin and I shivered. _

_When his lips encircled the peak of my erect nipple, I bucked my hips involuntarily and a long moan sounded deep in my throat. _

_He was taking his time, and appreciating every single inch of my body. Tonight was very different from our other times. Before, he _was_ caring, I'll admit, but I could tell he was focused on making this the best time we'd ever had. If I had any say, I'd admit he was doing a _very _good job._

_His hand, which had been resting on my thigh before, inched its way up slowly. He traced circles with his thumb as his hand moved until it reach my other breast. As he nipped at one, his finger teased the other, moving back and forth over the bud._

_"Ohh..." I moaned at the sensation. _

_He continued with his actions, not stopping even when he spoke. "Let me pleasure you."_

_Laughter bubbled out of my mouth as he switched breasts. He blew on the nipple for a moment, creating a whole other feeling. My hands held his head, holding him in place. I didn't ever want him to stop._

_"Trust me, Adrian. You are."_

_"Good," he said and smooched down to my abdomen. I was very sensitive down there. No matter how many times his hands, or mouth, had wandered down there, I'd always shiver._

_When his tongue reached the bundle of nerves between my legs, I threw my head back, my hips bucking once again. With both of his hands, he kept my body in place, now holding down my hips._

_He did that until I was almost ready to burst._

_My breathing had picked up, but no, I didn't want to orgasm like this. My hand, which had been in his hair, tugged gently at his strands._

_He lifted his head, licking his lips greedily. I groaned at the incredibly erotic sight and motioned for him to come up to me._

_We kissed and I nodded, to tell him I was ready. When he entered me, my arms moved to hold him against me, they wrapped around his shoulders as he moved within me._

_It didn't take long for me to climax, because of all the foreplay he had done. I really needed to pay him back for that someday with some teasing of my own. He drew out my orgasm, still thrusting inside of me. His breathing had picked up quite a bit and his body bucked into my sporadically. I could tell he was almost there._

_When he reached his peak, he cried out my name and then collapsed on top of me._

_Almost desperately, he kissed me and then pulled out to fall onto the spot next to me. I turned on my side and moved some damp hair out of his face to see his eyes. _

_I smiled. "That was amazing."_

_All he did was look into my eyes and put a hand to my cheek, caressing it lovingly. "I love you so much, Rose."_

_"I love you, too." I said, kissing his palm._

A mumbling Adrian pulled me out of my daydreaming, and I turned my head to see if he had woken up. For a minute I thought he was messing around, because his eyes were still closed. His breathing was still steady though, so he must have talked in his sleep.

Relaxing, I moved my head back onto the pillow and tried to fall back asleep for the forty minutes I still had.

"Please don't leave me," I heard Adrian mumble by my ear. Again, I looked back to see if he was awake, but he wasn't. I pulled at his arms to loosen his grip around me and then turned around his arms to watch him.

It wasn't long before he started talking again.

He repeated, "Please don't leave me. Stay with me."

This was weird. I had never known Adrian to talk in his sleep...unless he was really stressed about something. I thought back to time when his parents had ragged on him for having the "scandalous", as they had called it, relationship with me. That night we had slept together and I had woken up in the middle of the night to him talking to his parents while he dreaming.

My mind drifted back to the day before when he seemed a little off. Maybe something had happened with parents while I was gone? Maybe that was why he had acted a little strange.

Suddenly, Adrian pulled me tightly to him, gripping me so hard that I almost couldn't breath. "Forgive me."

I decided it was best I woke him up.

I shook his shoulder a couple times until he eyes opened sleepily and he stared at me confused. "Hmm?" he said, and then realized he was holding me. He smiled, looking out of it, and then rubbed his cheek against my forehead.

If I hadn't been worried, I would have thought he was irresistible right now. "You were talking in your sleep again," I told him.

His brows furrowed, and he pulled away from me. "I was?"

Nodding, I asked, "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Last time you talked in your sleep, it was because you were stressed about something..."

His eyes flashed with recognition. He was probably thinking back to when I had woken him up then because of it. Adrian was quiet for a minute, lost in thoughts.

"Adrian," I said, putting a hand on his chest. "Did something happen with your parents while I was gone?"

He shook his head.

"Then what is it?"

"Nothing, Rose. Nothing happened. I'm fine. I was just dreaming." He said a little too defensively. It wasn't hard to see that he was lying, but I trusted him enough to know that it probably wasn't anything big. If it had been something with his parents, then it was probably something private, or something he didn't want me to hear.

Just because we were together now didn't mean that we couldn't keep things to ourselves. I knew I'd never tell him about my conflicting feelings.

Yes, I was now fully committed to Adrian, but the small feeling that was telling me to wait before making any decisions was still there. I was just ignoring it.

"Okay," I said, burying my hand in his hair. It was messy and made him look adorable. I always loved looking at him when he just woke up. He was attractive at any time of day, really, but morning's were something special.

Maybe it was the alluring idea that I was the only one who got to see him like this. _Probably_.

I pulled his head down until I could kiss him.

He relaxed and moved so he was hovering over me.

I eyed his body above mine and couldn't help but sigh in appreciation. He certainly was a gorgeous thing to behold. I'd never deny that.

The wheels seemed to be turning in that head of his, as he seemed distracted for a moment in silence. I watched as he blinked once and then refocused on me. Leaning down, he placed a chaste kiss on my lips and then on my cheek. "What do you have planned for today, my little dhampir?"

"The usual. Strategist meeting. Guarding Lissa."

He groaned in frustration, but playfully and then nuzzled his nose against mine. "I wish I could shackle you to this bed and never let you leave."

I laughed. "Maybe one day I'll let you..." I said jokingly and then slipped out from under him.

He watched bewildered as I slithered into the bathroom, leaving the door open behind me.

I heard him call from the other room, "Hey, that's not fair!"

Smirking to myself, I turned the shower on and poked my head back into my bedroom.

"In the mood to get wet?"

* * *

After my very long shower with Adrian, I rushed over to the guardian building for my meeting.

It was a close call, but I managed to get there with some time to spare.

The rest were already seated at the table when I walked in. Hans followed in right after me, shutting the door and locking it as normal procedure.

I caught Dimitri's eye briefly before he looked away.

He refocused on the papers on the table, reading them through.

Taking my chair, I sifted through them as well, like I knew what they were about, though I had no idea.

"What are these?" I asked, looking at the title of one of them.

_Volunteer Program Application_.

Hans ripped the paper out of my hand. "These Ms. Hathaway," he started, "are the applications we received from Moroi who are willing to help us discover whether or not your little idea is possible."

I scowled, not only because he had called me Ms. Hathaway, rather than Guardian Hathaway, but also because he had gone behind my back. "When did we decide we were doing this?"

"Well, while you were in California, Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Petrov and I were moving things forward as it seems you are incapable."

I fisted my hair in frustration. "You make it sound like I was on vacation!"

"Might as well have been. You haven't put any effort into finding a Moroi for the job, so we took matters into our own hands."

"But it was my idea!"

"This is not about _you_. This is a team effort," he said, still keeping his professional tone. He wasn't talking to me like my mother had been, but it still felt demeaning.

And he was _not_ about to use that line about this being a 'team effort' on me! "A team effort, really? If you truly believed that, then you'd have clued me in on this. You would have let me know before blindsiding me, and also, you would treat me like an equal. But that is not the case, apparently."

Dimitri interrupted before Hans could spit something back at me. "Rose, this is a step forward. Just let it go." His eyes bore deeply into mine as we stared each other down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hans relax into his chair. My eyes glided towards him and I saw a faint smirk on his lips.

I fumed.

Dimitri, who had seen my reaction, reached across the table, taking my hand in his. Everyone seemed to be deeply buried in their papers to notice the interaction between the two of us.

"Let it go," he said, softer. His thumb rubbed into my palm as a soothing technique. It helped immensely and I had realized I was getting worked up over nothing. The darkness faded away and I relaxed.

Tasha cleared her throat to right of us and I caught her staring at the two of us. Pulling my hand away quickly to disperse any curious thoughts from her, I cleared my throat as well and stood up.

I excused myself from the room and journeyed over to a bathroom a couple halls away. The walk had been enough to clear the clutter in my mind.

I splashed some cold water onto my face and took a few deep breaths.

My anger hadn't been bond related. It had been all me.

Sighing as I realized the fact, I looked myself down and then decided I shouldn't stay in here too long. Someone from the group might come looking for me and if I knew anything, I'd be willing to bet Dimitri would volunteer for the job.

It wasn't that I was trying to avoid him, it was just that I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

Lissa already suspected something between Dimitri and I, and from the look Tasha had on her face, she was catching on as well.

_Catching on to what?_ I thought. We weren't together. We were just friends...right? There had been a kiss, but it was done with. We realized our mistakes - more me than him - but I was in a relationship I was fully committed to.

"You're over thinking this..." I mumbled to myself.

"Over thinking what?" asked an intruding voice from beside me.

I jerked a little, before seeing the toothy smirk beside me. Groaning, I slapped a hand to my forehead and pointed to the door of the meeting room.

"I don't have time to waste with you, Christian. What do you want?"

He put two hands up. "Hey, now, Rosemarie. The lovely woman who is," he broke into a whisper so only the two of us could hear, "carrying my child would like to see you."

"Right now?" I asked, my eyes moving pointedly back over to the door.

Christian knew I had these meetings mostly every work day of the week.

He nodded. "Yes, she says it is important. Don't get your granny panties in a bunch though. It's nothing serious. She was stressed and demanded she see you for some girly time relief." He scrunched his face up like the idea of Lissa and I spending time together was weird.

"She's pulling me away from my meeting to talk?" I asked, a little surprised and a little hesitant. I should've been in the meeting contributing and reading over those applications. Not off gossiping with my best friend. But I had to admit, the idea sounded like a life saver at the moment.

I was too keyed up with most of the people in that meeting room. Walking away might have been the best choice for me for today.

"Yep. And Rose," Christian's voice turned serious. "She knows you're working hard over here and hates to pull you away, but I think she's just having a hard time. It would mean a lot to her for you two to just forget about your duties for an hour or two."

That was all I needed to hear. Nodding to Christian, I told him I'd be there in a few and then slipped back into the meeting room.

I let them know Lissa was asking for me and that I wouldn't be back to finish the meeting.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Lissa and I were both slumped on her bed together, watching an animated movie with a big bowl of popcorn in between us.

Or at least it _had_ been a bowl of popcorn, up until about two minutes ago when Lissa dogged the rest of it.

She sighed happily and rubbed a hand over her stomach.

I felt happy inside just seeing her touching her stomach. "Thank you for this," I said.

Her eyes tore away from the movie. "Hmm?"

"For stealing me away today. I've been getting really keyed up lately in all of my meetings. And, I don't think it's just stress anymore."

"You're welcome." she paused. "And what do you mean? Is it the darkness?"

"I don't think so. It's been a while since you've used spirit, and I feeling like I'm doing a good job at keeping it under control." Lissa had sworn off any healing, unless it was absolutely a matter of life and death for the sake of the baby. Lissa wasn't more than a month along and already she was taking precautions. She didn't want to risk anything like taking away energy from the baby to heal someone. "I think I have an idea about what it is, but I don't want to believe I'm right."

"What do you think it is?" she asked curiously, the movie forgotten now.

"I think maybe all the darkness has affected me on the inside. It might sound crazy, but I'm starting to wonder if it's having long-lasting effects on me. I believe that the darkness I feel from time to time is attaching itself to me. Yes, the initial feelings of anger and hate go away, but I have to wonder if it stays inside of me somewhere."

"Like it's building up, or something?"

I nodded, watching as Lissa frowned.

"If it's true, that's not a good thing at all."

"I know," I admitted, my voice grim. "Do you remember what I told you I had read? About Anna and St. Vladimir?" St. Vladimir was the man our academy was named after. After some delving into history books I had gotten from the little room above the church back at our academy, I had learned that he had a bond mate, Anna. Just like Lissa and I. Curious, I had kept searching and found out that Anna had killed herself because of the darkness that had built inside of her.

I hadn't understood how bad the darkness could be until I had read that and now I was paranoid that it was happening to me.

"Yes, I do, but that's not going to happen to you, Rose. I won't let it." she promised, looking at me determinedly.

"You can't if it's impossible to prevent, Lissa."

"We'll find a way. We always have," she swore, putting her hand on the empty bowl. When she found nothing left, she stared into it and looked at me. "Did you eat the rest?"

I gaped. "Are you kidding?"

She looked at me innocently.

"Lissa!" I laughed. "I barely had any! You ate the whole bowl all by yourself."

"I did?" she laughed.

"Um, yes!"

A content smile covered her face as she burped and then put her hand over her mouth. Embarrassment covered her features and she apologized. I just shook my head.

"That baby of yours is eating all of my food," I playfully complained, my eyes moving back over to the movie. I had not paid attention to what was happening in the time that we had talked, so I had no clue what was happening now.

"Yeah, well you just wait until you're pregnant," she said, "then you'll understand."

"Me, pregnant?" I asked, dumbfounded. I had never pictured myself having a baby. I didn't have anything against children, not at all. It's just, I never thought about it being possible.

"Yes, you! Adrian is a Moroi, Rose."

"So...?"

"That means you two could have children if you wanted." She noticed my quietness. "You don't want children?"

"It's way too early to even think about having kids, Lissa. I've got my career. It's like caring for a baby all on its own, and besides, I don't know if I'm the type of person who wants little feet running around. That's always been your thing, not mine."

"Well, now that you're with Adrian, it could be your thing too, you know."

With that, we both turned back to the movie. She laughed here and there, but I hardly noticed, because I was too busy thinking about what she had said. I knew she didn't mean to make me feel insecure, but she had.

Lissa only meant well, I knew for a fact she did, but sometimes she said things that would weigh heavy on my mind for hours.

If I kept a relationship with Adrian, would the road eventually lead to kids? Did I want to bring children into this world just for them to be pushed out to the front of the firing line? If I reproduced with Adrian, our children would be dhampirs, which meant they'd have a life long servitude to a Moroi. Personally, I didn't mind this life, because I had the job of guarding my best friend, but not everyone was so lucky...

* * *

I spent the rest of my day with Lissa. In a way I was still doing my job guarding her, we were just doing it very casually today. No wall duty for me! Lissa promised no more of that.

Eventually, Lissa fell asleep, snoring softly as I changed the channel to another movie. I wasn't watching for more than ten minutes when Christian walked in. He smiled fondly at his lady and then his eyes fell over me.

"Thank you for doing this for her. She needed it," he thanked, walking over to Lissa, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. She leaned into his touch before shifting around onto her side. He pulled the covers tighter over her and then kicked his shoes off. I took that as a sign that he was going to get into bed soon, therefore I'd have to leave. One look at the clock told me it was later than I thought. Technically my shift had ended hours ago, but I didn't consider today as part of my duty or job, just spending time with a friend, so I hadn't minded staying. It hadn't been a bother at all.

"In a way I needed it too," I admitted, getting off the bed. I walked over to Christian and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're really good to her. I'm glad she found someone like you. As long as you're around, I know she's safe and cared for when I'm away or unable to be there for her. You know, if something were to ever happen to me."

He turned around and smiled appreciatively at my compliment.

"Hopefully, it will never come to that."

"Hey Christian?" I started, changing the subject slightly.

"Yeah?"

I was meddling into Adrian's business here and I didn't know if Christian would tell me, so I proceeded with caution. "How was Adrian when he came over while we were in California? Lissa said he was here with you."

"Well, uh," he scratched his neck, like he wasn't sure if he should talk to me about this, but finally, he caved. "He was distraught. He seemed angry and kept rambling on about you, but that was it. Whatever Lissa said, he wasn't here long."

I raised an eyebrow. "No?"

"No. He just dropped by for some advice or comfort, I guess. I told him everything would be fine once he got back and you two talked it out, but he didn't seem to like that. I think he wanted me to be miserable with him."

_Well, that wasn't good. _"So he wasn't here long?"

Christian shook his head before a yawn worked its way out of his mouth. "No more than fifteen minutes."

After that, I had left, not sure what to think.

Maybe Adrian had seen his parents after all. If he hadn't stayed at Christian's place for long, then he definitely had time to get over to his parents house, especially if he was looking for someone to be there for him.

But Christian had said Adrian wanted someone to mope with him, which meant he was drowning himself in his sorrows.

I could just picture him with a bottle of some type of strong alcohol at a bar alone, talking to himself in frustration.

But he would have told me if that had happened, right?

As I got into my bed that night, I told myself not to worry. If Adrian had a tiny slip up it wasn't anything to start a fight over.

He would tell me if something was terribly wrong eventually. I didn't think anything major had happened, though. I had a feeling that he was just feeling guilty for slipping up.

I trusted him, and I would have to overlook this until the situation presented itself.

He had overlooked my kiss with Dimitri and it was the least I could do.

* * *

**A/N: **So, did anyone else go out yesterday to buy Foretold? I did! I love reading about Rose and Dimitri being together so much :) But my only complaint is that it was too short! I know it's a "short story", but I wish Richelle Mead kept with writing from Rose's POV. I don't care if that means she's put in danger a lot. She can handle it! Haha.

Anyway, thoughts?


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **RM owns VA.

**A/N: **I can't thank you guys enough for the reviews! I really hope you like this chapter! Expect another one soon! :) I hope you like this enough to let me know what you think! Thank you again :)

**Chapter Eleven: Slip-up**

A week later found me in another one of my strategist meetings.

The group of us were on one side of the desk, while a woman, a Moroi, stood before us. In each of our hands was a piece of paper - an application. We had narrowed the group down to twenty five applicants that we felt would be suitable to help us test my theory out. We had gotten rid of the majority of people based on specific qualifications.

For example, we wanted someone without a criminal record, then we had to be sure they were air and water users. We didn't want anyone involved in any scandals or promiscuity, or someone who was likely to gossip about this in case it didn't end up working out.

In fact, it had just popped into my mind that maybe we should draft up contracts saying that our chosen Moroi cannot speak of what we do in the time they'll be working with us.

"How would you feel about signing a non-disclosure agreement?" I asked, out of the blue. In fact, I wasn't sure if anyone was talking. I just asked, because it came to mind.

All eyes were on me, but I kept focused on the Moroi woman.

She hesitated. "F-for what?"

The woman before us was very thin and pale, like most Moroi. She reminded me a bit of Lissa, not because of her appearance, but because of how she came off. She seemed like the person who was nice to everything and everyone. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. She was an air user.

I looked down at my paper. Her name was Melanie Lazar. Age 22. My eyes shot up at her last name. She was a Royal? I became skeptical. I wasn't one to trust Royal Moroi very easily. I wasn't so sure she should be involved in this.

"Well, what this job is requiring isn't exactly something we want to get out - at least not while it's in its early stages. An NDA will get rid of taking any chances. It's standard procedure." I said, earning some raised eyebrows from my colleagues. Okay, so it wasn't standard procedure, but Melanie Lazar didn't know that. No one seemed to have a problem with my little white lie, because nothing was said in objection, but I knew I'd have some questions to answer after we were in private again.

Melanie fidgeted with her sleeve and then nodded. "I guess I could sign one." She cleared her throat and nodded, looking more confident with her decision. "I'd have no problem signing one."

"Alright, then, you may go. Thank you. We'll get a hold of you once we've made a decision."

With that, she looked us all over once and then left the room, shutting the door behind her. She was the last one of the day.

"A secrecy contract isn't something we normally do, Guardian Hathaway," Hans said, folding his arms, leaning over the desk.

"I know, but don't deny that its a good idea. You know it is." He nodded, seeming to agree with me. I was a bit surprised he didn't say anything to go against me. My mother, who was eyeing us both, didn't say anything either. Thank God.

Alberta spoke up. "I think it's a great idea, but there's just one problem. We only told Ms. Lazar about the NDA. The other twenty four applicants know nothing about it. We'll have to let them all know before narrowing the list further."

Hans replied with, "I don't see it being an issue if we select Ms. Lazar. She was promising enough. We don't necessarily have any more qualifications to narrow the list down with."

"But she's Royal." I stated bluntly.

Ivan and Tasha raised their eyebrows. "What's wrong with being Royal?" Ivan asked, looking a little surprised at my prejudice.

I realized how I sounded, and shook my head. "Nothing. I just - I have a hard time trusting them."

"But you trust the two of us?" Ivan gestured to Tasha and himself.

"You two are different."

"How?"

I sighed. He wasn't getting it. "I've gotten to know you two enough to the point where I can I trust you. I hardly know Melanie Lazar, and we don't have weeks to make a decision."

"You're being stereotypical," Dimitri accused from two seats down. I looked to him, hardly appreciating his comment. As I stared, his warm eyes seemed to get a message through to me and I understood how they could argue with me on this. This was a team decision. If the majority voted for Melanie then my discomfort wasn't important.

"Does no one else have a problem with this? Does everyone else like Melanie?" I looked to each and every one of them.

No one said otherwise.

"She's as fit as the rest of them for this. If she signs the NDA, we'll be fine and you'll have nothing to worry about," Dimitri said, taking out his pen to mark Melanie as one of our choices.

I threw my hands up. "Okay," I replied dejectedly, "Melanie it is. What about a water user?"

"I liked Henry." Hans said, pointing to one of our applications. Looking at the picture, I realized I had liked this guy too. He was a Moroi, not Royal, age 30, and had light brown hair with brown eyes. He had seemed sincere during his little conversation with us. Apparently he had family living near the area that had been attacked and wanted to do anything to assure their safety.

If we had a more secure court atmosphere, then we could send procedures to other households - to families like Henry's. If this multiple wards thing worked, then they could be placed on each vampire-owned home or business. That was how things usually worked out in our world. Court made advances in technology and ideas and then they were passed on to other countries and filtered down through the system. Eventually our efforts here would make for better safety precautions everywhere.

"Me too," I agreed and that was that. Hans said he'd give the two of them calls letting them know of their acceptance, and would fill Henry in on the contract he'd be required to sign.

Each of us filed out of the room, tiredly.

We had spent more than half the day in that stuffy room, and my legs needed some stretching out.

Once we got out, I twisted this way and that to crack my back. The relief that came afterward forced a blissful sigh out of my mouth. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes for a moment, realizing I was more exhausted than I had initially thought. I had had a lot of late nights this past week, because Adrian had been basically staying at my house with me all day everyday.

"What was that in there?" a voice asked, causing me to open my eyes.

Dimitri was standing in front of me, staring curiously at me. His brows were furrowed and I realized he looked a little disappointed. In me?

"What are you talking about?" I asked, crossing my arms, meeting his stance.

"You judged that girl based on her social rank." Dimitri didn't look happy and I had a feeling it had to do with Tasha and Ivan. They were his closest friends and I had probably offended them to some extent. I hadn't meant it that way at all. They had to know that! If I was against Royals, then why would I have made an effort to be their friends? Why would I even care for Lissa? She was Royal.

I guess I hadn't explained myself well enough. I told them it was only a trust issue.

"Who are you? My dad?"

Dimitri took a step back, surprised at my comment. Seriously, though, he was scolding me. He had no right!

"What - "

I voiced my thoughts. "You have no right to get angry with me. You're acting like I'm a kid who misbehaved or something, Dimitri. I explained myself in there. It was a trust issue, nothing more. You, and basically every dhampir, know that Royals aren't exactly the best crowd."

"I'm not scolding you. I just - nevermind. I'm sorry," he apologized, putting his hands up.

I sighed. "It's fine. Whatever." I gave him a somewhat smile and then moved to walk away, wanting to get back to my room. It was a Friday, therefore I had no shift with Lissa. Our meeting, because we had so many applicants to go through, had taken up a lot more time than we anticipated. In fact, it had gone a good three hours over the time we thought it would end.

Dimitri didn't seem to be done talking with me, though.

As I slipped out of the building, I noticed he had followed, moving swiftly and silently.

I was about to stop, to ask him what he wanted, but he moved into step with me and looked down toward me before asking, "How are things between you and Adrian?"

I was taken back by the question and almost stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

Clearing my throat, I met his eyes and shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "It's going great."

His eyes searched my face. He seemed so interested in what I was saying. "Really?"

The air between us seemed to change. The both of us had stopped moving and were standing face to face.

I nodded, an unusual shy smile on my face. "Yes."

Dimitri seemed to be satisfied with my answer, because he gave a curt nod and then looked back toward the guardian building. Just coming through the doors were Ivan and Tasha. He looked like he wanted to join them. When he turned back to me, he said, "I better go. We're heading to Lucy's tonight, if you'd like to join us again."

I scratched my arm, not feeling sure. I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't think that's the best idea." I eyed Dimitri's friends, not so sure they were happy with me. I hadn't meant what I said earlier to be taken badly. For sure, I hadn't meant to offend my new friends. "I'm not to sure your friends are happy with me."

"Maybe you're right." Dimitri admitted, giving me a comforting smile.

I took a step back, making the first move. It almost seemed like we could talk and talk in that moment, so I felt obligated to subtly say it was time to part. "Maybe you could help me with that? Maybe explain what I really meant to them?"

"Maybe I could." He cracked a smile, and I knew what he was doing.

I said it before he could. "That's a _lot_ of 'maybes'."

The both of us laughed and Dimitri full out grinned. I basked in the sight, and unthinkingly took a step closer to him.

The connection between us crackled and Dimitri's hand raised to slip some hair behind my ear. My feet seemed glue to the ground, my eyes glued on his face. After the hair was out of my face, his hand rested on my cheek for a moment.

Tasha laughed from a few feet away and the two of us jerked back. Clearing my throat, I leaned back on my heels and gave Dimitri a forced smile. My eyes briefly glanced and Tasha and Ivan, who were making their way over to us. They had unintentionally ceased whatever was just going on with Dimitri and I. As they neared, I realized I wanted to leave before I had to confront them.

Dimitri could work his magic alone on getting them to forgive me. I had a feeling he could get through to them easier than I could, and they trusted his judgement more. He could probably make them understand.

"Well," I rushed out, keeping the approaching Moroi in my peripheral, "I better go."

Dimitri nodded quickly along with me. "You better..."

"Okay, well, goodbye." I waved, moving to turn around.

"Goodbye."

* * *

**A/N: **Anyone have any guesses as to what will happen in the next few chapters?


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **Richelle Mead owns Vampire Academy.

**A/N: **Hope you like it :)

**Chapter Twelve: Figuring Things Out**

After the odd interaction with Dimitri, I walked back to my room hastily, tugging my jacket a little bit tighter against the powerful wind, my hair whipping this way and that. The wind had been what had caused my hair to move into my face earlier, thus bringing Dimitri to tuck it behind my ear. As I reached my door, I shoved my hair behind my ear as he had done and then remembered how he had let his hand rest on my face for that one brief moment.

It had been quick, so quick that if someone had blinked, they'd miss it.

I couldn't help but be curious about that.

Opening the door with my keys, I stepped into the room. It was dark inside, so I suspected Adrian had left. Turning around, I moved to twist the lock.

The moment my back was turned, arms wrapped around my waist. I tilted my head to meet Adrian's emerald eyes in the darkness. I swooned. Even in the dark, his eyes glittered.

I laughed at the sudden assault, and opened my mouth to ask what was up when he started kissing my neck furiously. Desire pooled within me almost immediately.

I groaned, not able to help myself. Pretty soon though, I was too aroused for him to keep going as he was. With my back against his chest, it was hard for me to do anything I wanted to him - like touch him, kiss him.

Pushing him away gently, I turned around and leaned against the closed door. I held him at arms length. "What a nice welcome home," I observed, running my hands over his chest.

He leaned in, giving me a quick peck before bringing me into his arms.

"I missed you," Adrian said, causing me to frown in confusion. He had last seen me this morning. How could he miss me already?

"You saw me this morning," I said, voicing my thoughts. One side of his lip curled up and he hugged me tightly, nuzzling my neck. Without a word, Adrian held me to him and squeezed me tightly. Surprised by his sudden change of character, I wrapped my arms around him slowly and wondered if something was wrong.

It had been a couple days since I had last questioned whether or not Adrian was hiding something from me.

Everything had gone back to normal - there was no more talking in his sleep, and he seemed to be okay, so I let it go and figured he had worked things out. I even thought that maybe I had thought up something that wasn't there. Maybe Adrian had been telling the truth when he had said nothing had happened.

But this got me wondering again.

It's not that it was odd for Adrian to show affection for me, it was just that this seemed deeper than that. It seemed to be more than just him wanting to show he cared. The way he held me, well it was like he almost thought I'd disappear. It was all just confusing.

A few minutes later, Adrian pulled away and kissed my cheek.

"You know I love you, right, Rose?" he asked, looking insecure for a rare moment.

My brows furrowed, worry suddenly coming over me. I knew Adrian better than that. He must've known that I could tell something was wrong. I just didn't know what it was... I didn't want him to get mad at me for asking _again_. How could I approach this? Things had been perfectly well and normal this past week.

He was starting to worry me.

I nodded, kissing him, trying to reassure him that whatever was still plaguing him would get better.

* * *

The next morning, while Adrian was in the shower, I decided to take things into my own hands. Sure, Adrian might get mad at me, but I cared to much for it to go on like this.

The night before, he had completely put me on a pedestal. As we tore each others clothes off, he had told me over and over again how much he cared about me and how much he didn't want to lose me.

Searching through Adrian's phone, I found a number and called it. It rang once before someone came over the line.

"Adrian," a warm voice started over the phone.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Actually no, Lady Ivashkov, this is Rosemarie Hathaway." I held my breath as I waited for a response.

Daniella, as she had once told me to call her before she learned what her son and I were doing, paused over the line. I knew it must have been a surprise. "Why are you calling from my son's phone?"

"I don't have your number, and well..." I didn't know exactly how to ask.

"Is something wrong?" Daniella sounded worried over the line. "Did something happen to Adrian?"

I shook my head, though I knew she couldn't see me. "No, Adrian's fine. I just - he's been acting a little strange lately," I told her, thinking it best to get to the point. Then, "The reason I'm calling is, the last time he was like this, it was because he had gotten into an argument with you guys..." It had been an argument about me.

"...And?"

"Well, did he go see you or your husband two weeks ago?" I waited, clutching the phone tightly in my hand. I could hear the shower still running through the door, but I knew I had to hurry. Adrian didn't take long in the shower and he had gotten in about five minutes ago. I had to make this quick.

Daniella hesitated over the line. "No, he didn't." Damn. I bit my lip, disappointed with her answer.

_Well, if that wasn't it, then what could it be?_

"Maybe he's come to his senses," she said through the phone. I hadn't realized it, but I had spoken out loud.

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling the sheet up to my chest. I was still in bed, under the covers. I had sat up when I got the phone, and the sheet kept slipping down to my waist. I should probably get dressed.

"Maybe he's decided to take my advice and cut you loose." I groaned. It was the same old argument again. She probably believed Adrian and I were still just weekend lovers. She didn't know we had actually decided to be together, so I didn't blame her for bringing this up again.

However, I did find it necessary to correct her.

"No, he -"

Daniella cut me off.

"Maybe he's found another girl to..."

I didn't catch the rest, because I suddenly realized that the shower was off and I could hear Adrian moving inside the bathroom. Quickly, I ended the call and put the phone back where it was.

I hardly had enough time to slip back into bed before he stepped out with just a towel around his waist. His eyes fell on me and I swore for a moment he could tell that I was hiding something.

"Well don't you just look tempting," Adrian teased and I let out a huge breath. I was fine. He suspected nothing.

Forcing a laugh, I pulled the sheet back up over my chest and shook my head as he came near. "Nuh uh. You had enough last night."

He sat down beside me and pulled me in for a kiss. The moment his lips touched mine, the nervous feeling I had left, but I still wondered how I could wheedle the truth out of him. This was beginning to drive me crazy.

His lips were at my cheek when he said, "Haven't had any today."

I laughed, shoving him away. "You just took a shower. What was the point if you're just going to get dirty again?"

He raised an eyebrow and ran his hand along my leg and up my thigh, coming to a stop near the apex of my legs. Just a little to left and he'd have me in a puddle of pleasure. He watched my face for reaction.

"There are plenty things I could do to you that don't involve me getting dirty."

I let out a nervous laugh. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"And what exactly are these 'things'?"

Adrian ripped the blanket away from my body, causing me to cover myself because it was cold, and replaced his hand with his mouth. My hips shot up from the bed and he forced me down with his hand - keeping me in place so I didn't buck toward his mouth.

"Oh..." I whined, fisting the sheets in my hands.

When it was over, I was left in a blissful heap on the bed. Adrian placed gentle kisses up my slightly shaking body and then lastly settled one of my lips. I smiled, my eyes closed.

"See, little dhampir, I'm not dirty one bit..." he paused, "You on the other hand..."

I chuckled and couldn't find it in me to shove him away or pinch him. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his jaw line. When I got near his ear, I stopped and licked his cheek, neck and forehead.

He jerked at the surprising action and I laughed.

"Now you're dirty too."

* * *

The following Monday, the group of strategists and I were meeting up, along with the two Moroi recruits.

We were all sitting in the meeting room, waiting for Lissa to arrive. While she hadn't been majorly involved with what we had been doing, because she's been super busy with other stuff, she still wanted to see what we were up to - to overlook our ideas so to say.

We all knew she had a lot of papers to go through daily, so waiting a few minutes for her wasn't a big deal.

I sat in my chair, trying to ignore the looks Dimitri was shooting me from across the room. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see his eyes turn to me every minute or so while he tried to keep his attention on whatever Tasha was saying. Though I had spent most of the weekend locked up in my room, in bed with Adrian, there were moments that my mind would drift to him.

His reaction to the kiss, his asking about Adrian, the caress.

What did it all mean?

I let my eyes shift over to Dimitri for a moment and found that he was already staring at me again. I quickly looked away, and turned back to Henry. He seemed very happy to be here and had an air of confidence about him. I could tell he was genuinely concerned with what was going on and was more than happy to help. I really liked him, and I had only talked to him once before at our interview.

He had a very mature look about him, because he was more than ten years older than me, but he still looked very handsome. Most Moroi did.

I shot him a smile before saying, "Are you ready for this?"

His eyes fell on me before one side of hips lip curled. He nodded, fiddling with a necklace he wore around his neck. "Absolutely. I'd do anything to help you guys with this. It's an honor."

"What's with the necklace?" I asked, sticking to my blunt nature. It was funny because, with Adrian, it was difficult for me to just come out and demand the truth, but with other people, I spoke what I thought without really thinking. It was probably because I highly valued Adrian and didn't want to see him upset or angry with me.

Henry dropped his hand when he noticed how heavily he'd been messing with it. He gave a guilty shrug and went back to touched it.

"My wife gave this to me. It comforts me. I'm a little nervous about this, of course, I mean how could I not be?"

"Oh, well, don't worry. You'll do fine. If this doesn't work, we'll be back to square one, but we'll come up with something else. Just remember that it won't be your fault if the plan doesn't end out how we wish." I said, sending some comfort his way.

He nodded. "Yes, of course. By the way, what exactly are we doing? Melanie and I still haven't been filled in on what we're needed for."

"You'll find out soon enough." I said.

Henry looked as though he was going to respond, but then the door opened slowly, and two guardians came in before Lissa, flanked by another guardian, followed. All words were cut off as Henry looked at Lissa almost in awe.

For a moment I wondered why, but then my mind clicked and I remembered that my best friend was the leader of our vampire world. Half the time I didn't realize that it wasn't normal for most people to be in a room with her. Hell, I'd seen her naked when we were little and took baths together, I'd seen her with her hair so greasy it looked wet when her first boyfriend dumped her. I'd known her through good and bad, and now she was the most powerful person in our world.

Lissa greeted us before introducing herself to the two new Moroi additions, though they knew who she was. She shook hands with Melanie, who looked just as enthralled by Lissa as Henry, and then shook hands with Henry himself. Their eyes followed her as she moved about the room, and took her own seat, right next to me.

When she sat down, she gave me a small secret smile as if to say, 'hey', and then placed her hands in her lap. She began talking to us, about where we were going to test our idea. We needed a secluded area so no one would be able to see what we were doing or disturb us. After she explained to us where'd we'd be going, she began filling Henry and Melanie in on what our theory actually was.

After she was done speaking, I placed my hand on hers underneath the table and gave it a comforting squeeze. The other's might not have been able to tell but she was unbelievably tired.

I hadn't talked to her over the weekend so I didn't know if there were any new developments in the vampire world that were bothering her.

Subtly, I nudged my finger over her stomach and raised my eyebrows.

She knew I was inquiring about the baby.

As everyone stood up, she looked to me and smiled happily. The two of us stood up as well, and I could tell that my mentioning of her child had improved her mood drastically. I felt nothing but positivity radiating through her. The bond surged between us whenever we were in close proximity and I could feel her emotions like a tidal wave.

It wasn't overbearing, but more like a subtle buzzing in the back of my mind.

I had a good handle on it, or so I believed, now more than ever, because I didn't get sucked into her mind unexpectedly like I used to, but the connection would still, and always, be there.

Lissa nodded to me and we all started heading the direction she spoke of. One of her guardians took the role of leading us there and we all followed. From behind me, I could hear Hans talking to Henry and Melanie, instructing them of the terms of agreement on the papers they'd signed. I assumed they'd both read the documents before signing, like any smart person would do, but Hans was going the extra distance to remind them, just in case they had any questions or forgot something.

I looked over my shoulder at my mother who was following silently. Her eyes, which had been surveying the settings around us, moved to meet mine and I turned back around.

I sighed as we continued walking. Things were very complicated between me and her. We hadn't spoken since I asked her to leave me be, and I'd be lying if I said I was disappointed that she hadn't even tried to make up with me. She was my mother, and I could hate her all I wanted, but part of me would always want for her to make an effort to make things better - to show me she cared.

I could've done it myself, but I didn't want to be the one. I wanted her to do it. I wanted her to make the first move. I wanted her to want to be there for me and support me and accept my decisions as much as _I_ wanted her to.

So, wait and wish I would continue on doing.

Lissa, from beside me, made a small noise catching my attention. She was looking at me worriedly. I caught her eyes slowly moving over my mother and then back to me. She knew what had happened between us, but I could tell she was wondering if something else had gone on in the couple days I hadn't seen her this last weekend.

I shook my head no at her silent question and she sent a comforting smile my way.

It was amazing how connected we were and how big of an effect we could have on each other. There had been some moments here and there when we drifted apart because of our busy schedules, but our friendship never suffered enough to the point where we couldn't reconnect. Our bond was always there, not just the spiritual one, but our friendship bond. We knew each other in and out and could change on another's moods drastically.

"Alright, here we are," said the guardian who was leading us.

"Thank you, Guardian Hendricks," Alberta said professionally, before socking him in the arm. I laughed at the small look of surprise on Guardian Hendricks' face and then tried to focus on what we were doing. My attention had been pulled in almost every direction today it seemed.

"Okay," I started, grabbing everyone's attention, "this shouldn't take more than five to ten minutes. We're just going to try it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, back to the drawing board."

From there, Lissa kept at a distance so none of the magic would effect her. Not just for safety reasons, but also to not tempt her to use her own. I didn't doubt that her growing child was enough to keep her from wanting to use magic, but it was just in case. I knew how hard it must be for her to hold back.

Tasha, Ivan, Melanie, and Henry all gathered in one spot and began to do what must be done to make a ward. Hans, Alberta, Dimitri, my mother and I all stood close enough to see clearly what they're doing but far enough so they had space to move.

We watched as colors began to emerge, each color affiliated with the Moroi's power. Ivan, who was an earth user, emitted brown hues as his magic began working with the other three's. Tasha's color was red, because her element was fire. Melanie had white, for air, and Henry had blue, for water. Strings of each color intertwined together and mixed before our eyes into a ball before spreading outward to signal that a ward had been created.

They did this process a couple times until there was a full, circular ward around the empty field.

Once they were done we all seemed to look at each other.

"Now, try to make another one either inside or outside of this one." I said, wanting to move things along. I checked my wristwatch, seeing that twenty minutes had already passed. I had been wrong with the time limits I had set earlier. I had never actually seen a ward being created, so I didn't anticipate how long it would take. I didn't think anyone of us did, except maybe Alberta, but she had said nothing to go against my words from earlier.

I could tell the major use of magic was indeed having an effect on the Moroi, so I called Dimitri to my side.

I could see the four Moroi working to create another point inside the existing ward.

"They're getting tired," I said, noticing the small bags forming under each of the working Moroi's eyes.

Dimitri nodded. "I was thinking the same thing." He leaned on one leg, seeming to contemplate something. "Can we bring feeders here?"

I shook my head. "That would involve more people and more NDAs."

"Right," Dimitri said, before folding his arms. "Well, I don't suppose we're going to feed them ourselves..." he trailed off, causing me to flinch. He hadn't known what I had done while Lissa and I had ran away all those years ago - only to be brought back to the academy by Alberta. He had hit the nail on the head with his suggestion. He didn't mean it seriously, but his comment had taken a toll on me.

Dimitri seemed to notice my moment of discomfort, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

Clearing my throat, I nodded and stepped out from under his hand. Him touching me probably wasn't the best idea. Not with my confusing thoughts or Lissa's curious eyes.

I decided staying professional would probably be the best choice.

"I've got an idea."

* * *

**A/N: **Don't worry guys! We'll know more about what's up with Adrian in the next chapter, I promise :) So, what did you think?


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